images

Artwork of exoplanet Gliese 581c

by

Walter B. Myers/Novapix

Reference

a-exo99-30035

Date

2009-06-08

In April 2007 the Geneva Observatory in Switzerland announced the discovery of a "super-earth" extrasolar planet orbiting the red dwarf star Gliese 581. Dubbed Gliese 581 c, it's been called a super-earth because it is one of the few known extrasolar planets that has a mass near Earth's, and the only one to occupy its sun's "habitable zone."
This image of a rocky and variegated Gliese 581 c with an atmosphere and clouds is purely speculative.