In "Found: first rocky exoplanet that could host life," David Shiga reports to New Scientist on the discovery of an exoplanet that is both sized in such a way that leads astronomers to believe that it has a rocky construction and has an orbit that would allow for liquid water on the surface, located in the so-called goldilocks zone. The planet was found to be between the orbits of two other previously discovered exoplanets around the same star.
The planet orbits a red dwarf star, which means that it gets a lot less light than Earth. Also, it is much closer to its star than the Earth is to the sun, which means that gravity could "slow [its] rotation over time, until [it] becomes 'locked' with one side always facing the star." However, this discovery "suggests habitable planets must be common, with 10 to 20 percent of red dwarfs and sun-like stars" having them.
I think that this is a fantastic finding. Hundreds of exoplanets have been discovered in the the past year alone, and I think that the rate will just accelerate. These discoveries let us know that life may not be very unique to Earth at all, and it could direct our search for extraterrestrial intelligence. It also provides glimpses of what our Earth may have been like, and what may happen to our Earth in millions of years.
