FEELINGS among planet hunters are running high this week. While one team grabbed headlines with the first sighting of a solar system similar to our own, another has quietly firmed up their claim to an even greater prize: the first Earth-like planet orbiting a star other than the Sun.
Finding planets outside our Solar System has become a relatively common occurrence—around 90 have been found so far. But what astronomers really want to know is whether there are more planets like our own out there, and whether they might be inhabited.
Planets orbiting distant stars are far too dim…
