Super-Earth or Sub-Neptune? New Exoplanet Found Via Intricate Observation Technique

The planet in question is reportedly orbiting a dwarf star at an orbital distance roughly between Venus and Earth, if one were to compare it to our own solar system.

A team of scientists have apparently managed to locate a new planet whose mass is about four times that of Earth, performing this discovery in a “particular roundabout way”, as space.com puts it.

Rather that spotting the planet directly, the scientists employed a technique called gravitational microlensing which “relies on the fact that massive objects warp the space around them”.

Having combined the observations performed by the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment based in Poland; and the Korea Microlensing Telescope Network, the scientists were able to determine the presence of a star system comprised of a planet that could be classifier either as “super-Earth” or a “sub-Neptune”, which orbits a dim dwarf star “between the orbital distances of Venus and Earth”.

Sourse: sputniknews.com