'Superearth' Found 35 Light Years Away

It's bigger, hotter, more humid, and has more gravity than Earth, but HD85512b might just be able to sustain carbon-based life.

Astronomers have discovered 50 new planets beyond our solar system, and one of them, the sexily named HD85512b, looks like it has the ideal conditions for life. This “Superearth” is about 3.6 times bigger than our beloved home planet, and is some 35 light years away, but its closeness to the star it orbits means it's in the so-called “Goldilocks” zone where temperatures are just right for life to flourish. Humans might not be enthralled with the planet, as “just right” in HD85512b's case is near-paralyzing humidity and temperatures between 30 and 50 degrees Celsius, plus 1.4 times the gravity we experience here. But it's only the second planet discovered outside of our solar system (so far) that's enough like Earth to perhaps someday be a backup home once we ruin this one irreparably. Beggars can't be choosers. NASA's working on determining whether another 50 planets are inhabitable, but, in the meantime, HD85512b sounds like it could be a lot worse.