Tiniest planet ever discovered by astronomers in quest of other worlds
ASTRONOMERS have discovered the smallest planet ever spotted beyond our Solar System – a mysterious and uninhabitable mini-world even tinier than Mercury and only slightly larger than our Moon.
Astronomers discovered the tiny alien planet – which is the innermost of three that orbit a Sun-like star – with the Kepler telescope, after which the planet was named.
In comparison to our 365, the tiny planet orbits its star in just 13 days and is a mere 3865 kilometers (2400 miles) in diameter.
"Kepler-37b is probably rocky with no atmosphere or water, similar to Mercury," according to the study, headed by Thomas Barclay of NASA's Ames Research Centre.
Kepler-37b is probably rocky with no atmosphere or water
To spot the scorched, rocky planet, astronomers measured the size of its host star and "astroseismology" – turning tiny variations in the star's light into sounds.
The host star, called Kepler-37, is about 200 light years from Earth and is somewhat cooler and smaller than our own Sun.
According to reports a total of 699 extrasolar planets have been found since 1995, while another 2222 findings by Kepler await confirmation.