Smallest exoplanet is shown to be a solid, rocky world

Smallest exoplanet is shown to be a solid, rocky world | International Space Fellowship

The confirmation of the nature of CoRoT-7b as the first rocky planet outside our Solar System marks a significant step forward in the search for Earth-like exoplanets. The detection by CoRoT and follow-up radial velocity measurements with HARPS suggest that this exoplanet, CoRoT-7b, has a density similar to that of Mercury, Venus, Mars and Earth making it only the fifth known terrestrial planet in the Universe.

Great for proving that we have the needed tech to find a habitable world

That's precisely the point. The chances of us hitting a bullseye (a habitable planet) on the first shot with this is soooooooooooo far out there. The fact is now we have the ability to discover smaller planets, one which fit two of the more important requirements for human habitability... having a solid surface and atmospheric/gravitational pressures that won't crush a bank vault like a soda can.

The planets we've found up until this point were all gas giants which are easy to detect through star wobble. This planet is tiny and its effect on the parent star is minimal (aliens would find Jupiter and Saturn long before they even knew Earth was oribiting our star).

With atomic spectroscopy and this technology, it won't be too long before we're able to tag an exoplanet as being potentially habitable. Getting there... well, there's a Nobel or three in it for whoever pulls that one off.

I'm just waiting for a fleet of alien colony ships to show up and go, "Oh, ****! I knew we should of sent a probe to check for EM signatures!"

I'm just waiting for a fleet of alien colony ships to show up and go, "Oh, ****! I knew we should of sent a probe to check for EM signatures!"