Artistic impression of the surface of the newly discovered hot super-Earth Gliese 486b. With a … [+]
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Astronomers in Germany have discovered a hot super-Earth close to us that could help in the search for planets with breathable atmospheres.
Known as Gliese 486b, the bigger-than-Earth planet orbits a red dwarf star called Gliese 486 (also known as Wolf 437), which is about the fifth the size of our Sun. It’s only 26.8 light-years distant in the constellation of Virgo. That makes it a close cosmic neighbor of Earth.
Gliese 486b is a “super-Earth”—about a third bigger than Earth—with a…