[BRIEF NOTE] On the discovery of a possible super-Earth at Gliese 667

[rfmcdonald]

james_nicoll is one blogger of many who pointed to the discovery of a superterrestrial world that could support Earth-like conditions, as described in the arXiv-hosted paper "A planetary system around the nearby M dwarf GJ 667C with at least one super-Earth in its habitable zone".

GJ 667C is an M-class dwarf, part of a triple star system some 22 light years from Earth. Hearing rumors that a ‘super-Earth’ — and one in the habitable zone to boot — has been detected around a nearby triple star system might cause the pulse to quicken, but this is not Alpha Centauri, about which we continue to await news from the three teams studying the prospect of planets there. Nonetheless, GJ 667C is fascinating in its own right, the M-dwarf being accompanied by a pair of orange K-class stars much lower in metal content than the Sun. The super-Earth that orbits the M-dwarf raises questions about theories of planet formation.

In the context of astronomy, "metal" refers to all elements heavier than hydrogen and helium. If stars that have relatively few heavy elements aren't barred from having planets, but--maybe--just have smaller ones, this has obvious implications for planets across the universe.

See Sol Station and Wikipedia for more on the Gliese 667 system.