Just outside the solar system, a planet not unlike ours exists. So goes the findings published on Dec. 16, 2009 in the science journal Nature.

Astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics have located the planet 42 light years away. They have categorized it as a “Super-Earth,” insofar as it shares unusually similar characteristics with this planet, only far larger.

Designated as GJ 1214b, the planet is about six times as massive as the Earth and three times as large. It is one of the smallest exoplanets — worlds discovered near the solar system — but it is the most Earth-like of them all.

With this size and density in mind, the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre’s scientists can confirm that the planet has an atmosphere — and very thick to boot. Moreover, the planet could be rich in helium and hydrogen.

According research leader David Charbonneau, the discovery will be the first super Earth that has a confirmed atmosphere, and it does not matter if the atmosphere will not be hospitable to and good for life.

The astronomers think GJ 1214b is mostly covered with water. With its low density, the planet could be submerged in three-fourths water, around 50% by mass. As for the water’s state, no one could identify it just yet.

For sure, GJ 1214b can be very hot. Although it revolves around a red dwarf, a manifold smaller star than the Sun, the planet may have temperatures hovering at 248 to 536°F (120 to 280°C).

Yet scientists bet the water would not be in a gaseous state. The planet’s thick atmosphere may contrive enough pressure — 20,000 times the Earth’s own — to liquefy water. Other scientists speculate that water in such environment could exist as “superfluid.”

Whether or not this planet sustains life as we know it remains to be seen. From the outset, life may not flourish in a highly pressurized realm. Worse, the planet is not situated within the star’s ’Goldilocks zone,’ where life is deemed possible. Granted, the hefty atmosphere would screen light from an otherwise small star.

GJ 1214b excites astronomers nonetheless; the exoplanet is relatively near. For a point of comparison, television signals from Earth have traveled way beyond the planet.

GJ 1214b was pinpointed using eight ground-based telescopes.