New Planet found in Leo

Spanish and UCL (University College London) scientists have discovered a possible terrestrial-type planet orbiting a star in the constellation LEO.The new planet, which lies at a distance of 30 light-years from Earth, has a mass five times that of our planet but is the smallest found to date. One full day on the new planet would be equivalent to three weeks on Earth.

The team of astronomers from the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) working with Jean-Philippe Beaulieu, a visiting astrophysicist at UCL, made the discovery from model predictions of a new exoplanet — planet outside our solar system — orbiting a star in the constellation Leo. Simulations show that the exoplanet, dubbed GJ 436c, orbits its host star, GJ 436, in only 5.2 Earth days, and is thought to complete a revolution in 4.2 Earth days, compared to Earth's revolution of 24 hours and full orbit of 365 days. On Earth, a full day coincides quite closely with the rotation period. On the new planet these two periods do not coincide, since the orbital translation period and the rotation period are very similar. For this reason, a full day on the new planet would take four planetary years, or roughly 22 Earth days.
Most of the 280 or so planets discovered to date are gas giants similar to Jupiter, although some with masses below 10 times that of the Earth have already been found. Planets with masses of between one and 10 times the Earth are often dubbed super-Earths. In this case, current models predict that the new planet is a rocky type and has a radius some 50 percent larger than the Earth.