Scientists Discover a Planet, just like Earth!

Newest planetary discovery is small, fast and hot
A European space telescope has found a unique planet 390 light years away with a diameter less than twice that of the Earth, making it the slimmest planet yet detected outside our solar system.

 03/02/2009 2:38:30 PM
CBC News

The planet also lies very close to its parent star - about 2.5 million kilometres - and so completes an orbit in a speedy 20 hours. By comparison, the closest planet to our sun, Mercury, orbits at an average distance of 58 million kilometres and completes a circuit of the sun once every 88 days.

European astronomers, who announced the finding Tuesday at a symposium in Paris, also believe the planet may be the fastest yet discovered.