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Artist's rendition of 6x Earth size planet orbiting Gliese 667 C, part of a triple solar system. ©ESO

Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Scientists working at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in La Silla northern Chile announced the discovery of 32 new planets in systems beyond our own solar system, 19 October. The scientists are using a highly accurate spectograph developed by researchers led by Michel Mayor at the University of Geneva, called a High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (Harps) with the 3.6 metre telescope at La Silla.

The discoveries bring to more than 400 the number of planets, known as exo-planets, discovered in solar systems beyond our own, 75 of which have been discovered by Harps. Harps detects the slight wobble that a planet, even one only a few times larger than earth, has on its star, although the planet itself is unseen because of the distances involved.

In return for building the spectograph, the Geneva Observatory team was able to use the ESO 100 nights per year for five years. That period has now come to an end. But “these observations have given astronomers a great insight into the diversity of planetary systems and help us understand how they can form,” says team member Nuno Santos.

Researchers at the conference in Porto,  Portugal were excited because of the large number of almost Earth-sized planets, called super-Earths, discovered. An almost Earth-sized planet is likely to be hard and rocky, and not gaseous, with conditions more likely to allow for life to develop. Many of the planets discovered are parts of systems, but many of them orbit their stars too quickly, increasing the likelihood of the planet to be tidally locked, with one side always facing its sun. This is not propitious for the evolution of life.

Link to other site: The Economist