Astronomers have detected another super Earth orbiting its star some 40 light years away.

The super Earth dubbed exoplanet 55 Cancri e was seen as it passed in front of its star by the Nordic Optical Telescope located in the island of La Palma, Spain.

The exoplanet's sun called 55 Cancri can be seen by the naked eye. As it passes in front of its sun, 55 Cancri e blocks the starlight.

Like Us on Facebook

Scientists assume this exoplanet is twice as big as Earth, which is 16,000 miles in diameter. There are five planets orbiting 55 Cancri and this particular exoplanet is the nearest to its star. Scientists estimate the surface temperatures on 55 Cancri e can reach over 1,700 degrees Celsius, hot enough to instantly melt metal.

Observations of 55 Cancri e prove that ground based telescopes can certainly detect small exoplanets orbiting Sun-like stars, according to study lead author Ernst de Mooij from the Queen's University, Belfast.

This discovery is pivotal since upcoming space missions like NASA's TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite)  and the European Space Agency's Plato (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars) will discover more smaller planets around bright stars.

These discoveries can then be followed up by ground based instruments such as telescopes.

NASA's TESS mission is set to launch in 2017 and ESA's Plato is scheduled for 2024. Both spacecraft will search for planets in transit around nearby stars.

Ground based telescope detections and observations can further pave way for the discovery of more Earth-like planets in nearby star systems, said Mercedes Lopez-Morales from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

To date, the only super Earth to be studied by a ground based telescope is GJ 1214b.

TagsTelescope Detects Super Earth 40 Light Years Away, NASA, ESA, nordic optical telescope, Spain, super earth, 55 cancri e, telescope 55 cancri e super earth 40 light years