<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"Astronomers have discovered a new class of planet, an object with a hard surface similar to the surface of Earth but much bigger. \nThe Kepler-10c, as this planet is called, is about 560 light-years from Earth, where it orbits its star every 45 days. \nSee also: 'Smoking Gun' Found for Universe's Big Bang Expansion\nThis gigantic planet weighs in at 17 times that of Earth, with a diameter 2.3 times larger than our planet, according to astronomers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. One researcher went as far as to call it \u201Cthe Godzilla of Earths.\u201D \n\nAstronomers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have discovered a new type of planet, dubbed 'Mega-Earth' because of its enormous size. Image:  Harvard-Smithsonian Center for AstrophysicsUsually, planets of this size are gaseous, and that's exactly what the astronomers thought Kepler-10c was when they first discovered it.  \nBut when the team used the HARPS-North instrument \u2014 a tool used to measure a planet\u2019s mass \u2014 they discovered it had to be rocky, due to its huge mass. \n\"Just when you think you've got it all figured out, nature gives you a huge surprise \u2014 in this case, literally,\" said Natalie Batalha, Kepler mission scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.\nThe implications of this discovery is that old stars can host rocky planets similar to Earth, meaning there's a better chance of finding one that can sustain life than previously thought. \n\"Finding Kepler-10c tells us that rocky planets could form much earlier than we thought. And if you can make rocks, you can make life,\" said CfA researcher Dimitar Sasselov.\nHave something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2014/06/03/mega-earth-kepler-10c/>