WASHINGTON (AP) -- European astronomers have found a trio of "super-Earths" closely circling a star that astronomers once figured had nothing orbiting it.
The discovery may mean the universe is teeming with far more planets than previously thought.
The discovery demonstrates that planets keep popping up in unexpected places around the universe.
The announcement is the first time three planets close to Earth's size were found orbiting a single star, said Swiss astronomer Didier Queloz.
The mass of the smallest of the super- Earths is about four times the size of Earth.
That may seem like a lot, but they are quite a bit closer in size and likely composition to Earth than the giants in Earth's solar system -- Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
They are much too hot to support life, Queloz said.Using a new tool to study more than 100 stars once thought to be devoid of planets, the team found that about 1/3 had planets that are only slightly bigger than Earth.
That's how the star with three super- Earths, 42 light-years away, was spotted. out there.
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