|« Back to Article| Closest Earth-like planet awaits discovery
ASSOCIATED PRESS | February 9, 2013 | Updated: February 9, 2013
8:02pm CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Earth-like worlds might be closer
and more plentiful than anyone imagined. Astronomers reported
last week that the nearest Earth-like planet might be just 13
light-years away - or some 77 trillion miles. That planet hasn't
been found but should be there based on the team's study of red
dwarf stars. Galactically speaking, that's right next door. If
our Milky Way galaxy were shrunk to the size of the United
States, the distance between Earth and its closest Earth-like
neighbor would be the span of New York's Central Park, said
Harvard University graduate student Courtney Dressing, the
study's lead author. Small, cool red dwarfs are the most common
stars in our galaxy, numbering at least 75 billion. The Harvard-
Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics team estimates 6 percent of
red dwarf stars have Earth-like planets. To qualify, the planet
must be roughly the s