Two New Earth-like Planets Discovered

International research team with Heidelberg participation finds companions of "Teegarden's Star". With the aid of the highly complex CARMENES measuring instrument, a team of researchers from Germany and Spain has discovered two new earth-like planets. They orbit one of our closest neighbouring stars, "Teegarden's Star", which is located a mere 12.5 light years from Earth. One of its companions is more similar to Earth than any other known planet. The principal investigator of the CARMENES project is Andreas Quirrenbach, Director of the Königstuhl State Observatory, which is part of the Centre for Astronomy of Heidelberg University. CARMENES is a novel astronomical measuring instrument designed to detect earth-like planets, particularly planets near light, i.e. low-mass, stars. It is being deployed on the 3.5-metre telescope of the Calar Alto Observatory near Almería in southern Spain.