Nature:
Exoplanets are distant worlds that orbit stars other than our
Sun. More than 370 such planets are known, and a growing
fraction of them are discovered because they transit their star
as seen from Earth. The special transit geometry enables us to
measure masses and radii for dozens of planets, and we have
identified gases in the atmospheres of several giant
ones.Within the next decade, we expect to find and study a
"habitable" rocky planet transiting a cool red dwarf star close
to our Sun, says
Drake
Deming and
Sara Seager.
"Eventually, we will be able to image the light from an
Earth-like world orbiting a nearby solar-type star," they
say.
