Hubble Space Telescope reveals new class of planet

An international team of astronomers have observed a new planet class located in the constellation of Ophiuchus (The Serpent Bearer) about 40 light years from Earth. The planet, named GJ 1214b, is about 2.7 times Earth's diameter and weighs around seven times as much. "GJ 1214b is like no planet we know of. A huge fraction of its mass is made up of water," said the lead astronomer at Harvard-Smithsonian Center, Zachory Berta. GJ 1214b orbits its host star, a red dwarf, every 38 hours at a distance of 2 million kilometers which gives it a temperature of about 230 degrees Celsius. The group used the Hubble Space Telescope to study the planet when it crossed in front of the star. "We're using Hubble to measure the infrared color of sunset on this world," Berta explained. The star’s light is filtered through GJ 1214b’s atmosphere during the transit helping astronomers guess the mixture of gases present around the planet. The results also reveal if the atmosphere is steamy or hazy. "The Hubble measurements really tip the balance in favour of a steamy atmosphere," Berta said. Findings suggest that GJ 1214b has more water and less rock than Earth does. Astronomers plan to further investigate the newly observed planet as its internal structure is extraordinarily different from that of our world. "The high temperatures and high pressures would form exotic materials like 'hot ice' or 'superfluid water', substances that are completely alien to our everyday experience," Berta noted.