The smallest planet located outside the solar system, 30 light years away from earth has been discovered by a team of Spanish astronomers. The Spanish researchers announced the discovery of the smallest extrasolar planet on Wednesday, April 9, 2008. The planet ’GJ 436T’ was found by a team led by Ignasi Ribas of Spain’s CSIC Scientific Research Institute. The newly discovered planet according to Ribas is uninhabitable due to the distance between ‘GJ 436T’ and its star, which is much less than the distance that separates Earth from sun.

 

To uphold life, a planet needs to have liquid water on its surface, a mass similar to that of earth, an atmosphere and a akin orbital distance from its star as in the case of earth and sun. Ribas revealed that the technology that was used by the Spanish team of researchers to detect the new extrasolar planet, will enable them to discover in less than ten years for the first time, a planet that is similar to earth in terms of mass and orbit.