WASHINGTON (AP) ? Astronomers believe they have found a second planet outside our solar system that seems to be in the right zone for life ? but just barely.
Astronomer Lisa Kaltenegger of the Max Planck Institute in Germany says it wouldn’t be pleasant to live there. It would be humid and reach temperatures of about 120 degrees.
European astronomers announced the discovery at a conference in Wyoming. The planet was found by the European Southern Observatory’s special planet-hunting instruments in Chile. A previous discovery of a planet confirmed to be in the so-called habitable zone was made in 2007.
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Online:
The European Southern Observatory: http://www.eso.org/public/