The scientists say the planet's orbit takes it far too close to its star Gliese 581 for life to be possible.More details at BBC News.
The detection was made by an international team of researchers using a 3.6m telescope at La Silla, Chile.
"This is by far the smallest planet that's ever been detected," said group member Michel Mayor, from the Geneva Observatory, Switzerland.
"This is just one more step in the search for the twin of the Earth.
Astronomers spot exoplanet just twice as heavy as Earth
Posted on Tuesday, April 21 2009 @ 21:21 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck