Super Accurate Measurements for a 'Super Earth'

NASA knows exactly how large a new "super Earth" exoplanet is, thanks to a combined effort from the Kepler and Spitzer Space Telescopes. This, according to NASA, is the most accurate measurement of this kind of exoplanet ever taken, and marks a new step towards better understanding these planetary bodies.

Previous measurements of the exoplanet Kepler-93b taken by the Keck Observatory in Hawaii had estimated that it was about 3.8 times the size of Earth. This and other readings classified it as a "super Earth" because it was larger than our own world but still smaller than massive planetary bodies like Uranus or Neptune.

Now, thanks to highly accurate readings from the Kepler and Spitzer Space Telescopes, we know that 93b is in fact only about one-and-a-half times the size of the Earth (give or take a mere 74 miles). This measurement is certainly enough to still classify it as a "super Earth," and has even helped astronomers more easily determine what it is made of - largely iron and rock, like Earth - based on density readings.

Amazingly, according to Sarah Ballard, a NASA Carl Sagan Fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle, Kepler-93b is about 300 light years away - a distance at which accurate readings such as these were impossible to determine even five years ago.

"With Kepler and Spitzer, we've captured the most precise measurement to date of an alien planet's size, which is critical for understanding these far-off worlds," she said in a statement. "The measurement is so precise that it's literally like being able to measure the height of a six-foot tall person to within three quarters of an inch - if that person were standing on Jupiter."

Unfortunately, with a better understanding of 93b's composition, experts now also know that the planet is too hot to support life. It orbits its respective star so closely that its relatively small size would heat up to a scorching 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit each day.

These findings were published in the Astrophysical Journal.