Earlier this month a new exoplanet was discovered. The first bit of news is that it wasn't discovered by the Kepler mission, but by MEarth-South Observatory in Chile. But the really big news is that it's a rocky Earth-sized planet in our galactic neighborhood - only 39 light years away.
Here is an
artist's rendering of GJ 1132b, as the new planet is called. (Image credit: Dana Berry)
They won't be expecting to find life there. It may have an atmosphere, but its temperature of 450 degrees F (230 C) is too hot for liquid water on the surface and not encouraging to the development of life. Since it's comparatively close to us, astronomers will be able to study it and compare it to our own rocky planets. It will be interesting to see what they find out.