The NASA confirmed the discovery of the closest to Earth exoplanet – RIA Novosti

© Photo: NASA / JPL-Caltech

MOSCOW, July 31 – RIA Novosti. The closest to the Earth exoplanet discovered in the constellation Cassiopeia, according to national US space agency (NASA).

The planet HD 219134b is located at a distance of 21 light years from Earth. According to the NASA, the planet is 1.6 times larger than Earth by volume and 4.5 times heavier. The planet’s surface is hot, it melted at some sites. In HD 219134b has mountains, including volcanoes, scientists say.

© SETI Institute / Danielle Futselaar

The planet belongs to the class of” super-Earths. ” Terms her unsuitable for life, but HD 219134b is of great interest for the study.

“Such planets are worth their weight in gold, because they can be thoroughly explored. Exoplanet This will be one of the most popular for research in the coming decades “- said the member of the project data processing telescope” Spitzer “NASA Michael Werner (Michael Werner).

Star, around which the planet can be seen in the sky with the naked eye. It is able to detect due to darkening, it creates, passing in front of a star. This effect, scientists plan to use to find out whether there is in the atmosphere of HD 219134b, and what is its structure.

For the first time discovered a planet Italian telescope, “Galileo”. Recent discoveries have confirmed the data obtained by NASA using a telescope “Spitzer”.

Earlier, NASA reported the discovery of the planet Kepler-452b, which is similar in size to Earth and is in the “zone of habitat” star, very similar to the Sun . The solar system Kepler-452 is located at a distance of 1,400 light years away in the constellation Cygnus.