So far, the astronomers have picked up clear signals from five planets, along with two slightly "fuzzier" signals. One of these possible sixth and seventh planets was estimated to be just 1.4 times the mass of the Earth; if its presence in the system was confirmed, it would be the lowest mass exoplanet yet discovered.More details at BBC News.
It is also predicted to be very close to its host star - just 2% of the Earth-Sun distance, so one year on this planet would last only 1.2 Earth days.
Dr Lovis said he was 99% certain that this small planet was there.
"There are five signals that are really strong that we have no doubt, but we have another two with a 'false alarm' probability of 1%," he said.
Astronomers discover exoplanet system with at least five planets
Posted on Wednesday, August 25 2010 @ 18:20 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck