By: FOXmls.com
Published: March 25, 2013
If you're looking for an out-of-this-world-vacation, you might be able to do just that ... literally! Astronomers have discovered what could be another Earth.
They have been studying five planets orbiting a star called Tau Ceti, similar to the Sun. If these planets are really there, one of them is roughly the correct distance from the star to host life, oceans and mild temperatures.
But don't book time off work just yet the discovery still needs to be confirmed.
Astronomer Mikko Tuomi at the University of Hertfordshire in the U.K. and his colleagues looked at more than 6,000 different observations of Tau Ceti from telescopes around the world. They believe small changes in the way Tau Ceti moves in space could be caused by gravitational tugs from these five planets.
Only one of the five planets (about four times as big as Earth) could host life. The others are too close to Tau Ceti.
As a resident of this new Earth, you'd see a bright yellow sun in the sky, but your year would be much shorter - only 168 days.
They have been studying five planets orbiting a star called Tau Ceti, similar to the Sun. If these planets are really there, one of them is roughly the correct distance from the star to host life, oceans and mild temperatures.But don't book time off work just yet the discovery still needs to be confirmed.
Astronomer Mikko Tuomi at the University of Hertfordshire in the U.K. and his colleagues looked at more than 6,000 different observations of Tau Ceti from telescopes around the world. They believe small changes in the way Tau Ceti moves in space could be caused by gravitational tugs from these five planets.
Only one of the five planets (about four times as big as Earth) could host life. The others are too close to Tau Ceti.
As a resident of this new Earth, you'd see a bright yellow sun in the sky, but your year would be much shorter - only 168 days.
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