Astronomers on Monday announced the discovery of a newfound cold extrasolar planet, OGLE-2005-BLG-169lb, 13 times heavier than Earth , orbiting a small red dwarf star roughly 9,000 light-years away.
The finding alters astronomers' perceptions of solar system formation and the distribution of planets in the galaxy, suggesting that large rock-ice worlds might outnumber gas giants like Jupiter.
The planet has an icy and rocky but barren terrestrial surface, and is one of the coldest planets ever discovered outside of our solar system.
It orbits 400 million kilometres away from a red dwarf star, which is cooler than and about half the size of our sun. The planet is similar in rocky structure to Earth, and it is described a "super-Earth."
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