LA SILLA, Chile, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- A team of French and Swiss astronomers working in Chile has discovered one of the lightest exoplanets ever found.
The scientists made their discovery using the European Southern Observatory's 3.6-m telescope at La Silla, Chile.
The newly found exoplanet -- an extrasolar planet that orbits a star other than the Sun -- is orbiting a star belonging to the class of red dwarfs. Since such stars are very common, the scientists say their discovery proves crucial in the census of other planetary systems.
"Our finding possibly means that planets are rather frequent around the smallest stars," said Xavier Delfosse of the Laboratory of Astrophysics in Grenoble, France, a co-author of the study. "It certainly tells us that red dwarfs are ideal targets for the search for exoplanets."
Since such stars are so numerous near Earth, it is fundamental to know if they also harbor planets, the scientists said.
The newly found planet is about 17 times the Earth's mass, or about the mass of Neptune and, therefore, one of the smallest ever found.
The astronomers published their discovery in a letter to the editor of the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
