Researchers at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) said today that they’e discovered 32 more planets – or exoplanets as they’re called.
The discoveries were made using the High Accuracy Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS), a specograph for ESO’s 3.6 metre telescope.
The announccement boosts the number of low mass planets by 30 percent and ESO claims it has discovered over 27 of the 400 or so expoplanets now discovered.
Stephane Udry of ESO said that the search for small planets with a mass of a few times that of the earth has been given a dramatic boost.
The ESO team also discovered three candidate planets around stars that appear deficient of metals. Planets up to several times the mass of Jupiter have been found orbiting metal deficient stars.
