Word: charbonneau
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...look for it in unprecedented detail. Since GJ 1214b is only 40 light-years away, which is practically next door in cosmic terms, its atmosphere can be studied more closely than that of any other exoplanet, both with the Hubble Telescope and with the infrared-sensitive Spitzer Space Telescope. Charbonneau's team has already applied for observing time on both scopes to do just that...
...that the planet was found at all. Planet hunters usually focus their attention on Sun-like stars - that is, large and hot - on the assumption that if you're looking for life, you should look in a place that is as similar to our solar system as possible. Charbonneau, however, focused on about 2,000 small, dim, red stars known as M-dwarfs, nearby Earth. M-dwarfs are much more numerous than Sun-like stars; of the 300 stars closest to Earth, says Charbonneau, 220 or so are M-dwarfs. They're also much cooler than Sun-like stars...
...dwarfs are so small, moreover, that an Earth-size planet casts a relatively big silhouette as it passes in front of it, making the telltale dimming of starlight easy to spot. It's so easy, in fact, that Charbonneau didn't even need a giant telescope to see it. Instead, he got away with the kind of scope a serious backyard amateur might use. In other words, says Charbonneau, "we did it on the cheap...
They also did it fast. "We thought it would take us two years to find something like GJ 1214b," says Charbonneau. "It took just six months. Either we got really lucky, or these planets are common." If they are, then it wouldn't be surprising for astronomers to find planets that are slightly smaller and slightly cooler - in short, more Earth-like - as well...
...Charbonneau's group isn't the only one looking. An international consortium of observatories just announced the discovery of several other super-Earths around Sun-like stars, though these new planets are far too hot to sustain life and too far away to be able to study. Separately, NASA's Kepler Mission will present the first results of its planet search at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Washington in January. "[The Kepler team] has already submitted 28 scientific papers based on 43 days of data or less," says MIT planet theorist Sara Seager. "It's going...