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.
