New planet-hunting method could find more Earths
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By Deborah Zabarenko | Reuters
[A]n international team has detected a cold planet about 5-1/2 times more massive than Earth…about 20,000 light-years away…close to the center of the Milky Way.
…the team used a technique called gravitational microlensing…[which] uses a network of telescopes to watch for changes in light coming from distant stars. If another star passes between a distant star and a telescope on Earth, the gravity of the intervening star acts like a lens and magnifies the incoming light.
When a planet is circling the closer star, the planet’s gravity can add its own signature to the light…