Earth-like planet found beyond solar system

London, Sep 17: A new study has discovered an Earth-like solid rocky world, orbiting a star 500 light years away.

Discovered by the European space telescope COROT, the planet has been named COROT-7b. This is the first planet outside the Solar System that has a solid structure and support life.

However, since COROT-7b is only 1.6 million miles from its parent star, 23 times closer than Mercury is to the Sun, it is too hot to harbour extraterrestrial life.

Calling this discovery 'science at its best', Dr Didier Queloz, from the Geneva Observatory who led the study said, "We did everything we could to learn what the object discovered by the COROT satellite looks like and we found a unique system.''

This research was presented at European Planetary Science Congress in Potsdam, Germany.

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