Scientists Discover A New ‘Super Earth’ That Could Support Life

Aliens almost definitely exist, and you’d be silly to think otherwise. How do I know this startling piece of information? Well, back in August, scientists announced the discovery of a planet that looked seriously likely to harbour life. Proxima b is a relatively nearby planet which has the perfect set of conditions to breed life. It’s so close, in fact, that we could probably visit it in our lifetime.

Proxima b isn’t the only planet out there that almost definitely contains some kind of alien life. There are tens of billions of planets that have the capacity for life in the Milky Way alone, 11 billion of which are orbiting sun-like stars. However, for years, the existence of such planets was mere speculation. Until no That’s because a team of US scientists have announced the discovery of 60 exoplanets orbiting relatively close to Earth’s solar system. The discovery brings the total number of potentially habitable new worlds discovered by scientists to 114. However, of all the newly-discovered planets, one is looking more promising than all the rest.

One of the most tantalisingly habitable exoplanets was a hot super-Earth called Gliese 411-b with a rocky surface similar to Earth’s. It was found in the fourth nearest star system to our own, and could suggest that all the stars near our own sun have planets orbiting them. This, of course, means these planets could have the conditions for supporting alien life.

A spokesman for the University of Hertfordshire wrote in a press release: “Gliese 411b is a hot super-Earth with a rocky surface located in the fourth nearest star system to the Sun, making it the third nearest planetary system to the Sun. The significance of its discovery demonstrates that virtually all the nearest stars to the Sun have planets orbiting them. Planets that could be like Earth.”

Dr Tuomi, who led the analysis of the data, said: “It is fascinating to think that when we look at the nearest stars, all of them appear to have planets orbiting them. This is something astronomers were not convinced about, even as little as five years ago.

“These new planets also help us better understand the formation processes of planetary systems and provide interesting targets for future efforts to image the planets directly.”

Still sceptical we’ll find aliens in our lifetime? I don’t blame you. Perhaps scientific genius Steven Hawking can persuade you otherwise? He’s pledged $100 million to help in the search for aliens, proving he’s certain they’re out there somewhere.