NASA Scientists Discover 55 Cancri, a Possibly Habitable Planet

According to a press release from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, scientists there have discovered a planet that is possibly habitable by some kinds of life.

The planet is located roughly 41 light years from earth, and orbits the 55 Cancri star located in the constellation Cancer. This brings 55 Cancri's total number of orbiting to planets to five, causing 55 Cancri to hold the record for star with the most orbiting planets outside our solar system.

NASA scientists used what is called the Doppler Technique which finds planets by measuring the effect that their gravitational pull has on nearby stars. This effect is called the star's wobble, and measurement of it can help scientists determine both the presence and size of orbiting planets, that they otherwise would not have known existed.

Alan Stern, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters had this to say about the discovery: "It is amazing to see our ability to detect extra-solar planets growing. We are finding solar systems with a richness of planets and a variety of planetary types comparable to our own."

The new planet is roughly 55 times the mass of Earth. Scientists hypothesize that the planet may be somewhat like Saturn in its appearance and size. The planet orbits the 55 Cancri star in what is called the "Habitable Zone". This area is a band around the star that like the one Earth is situated in, allows planets to remain not too hot and not too cold to allow liquid water to pool up on the surface. This pooling of water has long been considered necessary for life to flourish.

The planet is located closer to its star than Earth is to our Sun, however the planet's star is marginally weaker than our sun. The planet was discovered after exacting observation of over 2,000 stars.

Astronomer Geoff Marcy who participated in the project had these comments about the discovery: "Discovering these five planets took us 18 years of continuous observations at Lick Observatory, starting before any extrasolar planets were known anywhere in the universe. But finding five extrasolar planets orbiting a star is only one small step. Earth-like planets are the next destination."

Michael Briley, an astronomer at the National Science Foundation, found the results to be an exciting sneak peek of discoveries to come as we continue to search for earth like planets. He pointed out that scientists have made stunning advancements in the science of finding new planets in just the past twelve years..