Zachory Berta of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) and colleagues made the observations of the planet GJ1214b.The planet is about 2.7 times Earth's diameter and was discovered in 2009. It weighs almost seven times as much as Earth and it orbits a red-dwarf star every 38 hours at a distance of 1.3 million miles. Its estimated temperature is 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
Berta and his co-authors used Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) to study GJ1214b when it crossed in front of it's host star. Calculations suggest that GJ1214b has much more water than Earth does, and much less rock. "The high temperatures and high pressures would form exotic materials like 'hot ice' or 'super-fluid water,' substances that are completely alien to our every day experience," Berta said.
GJ1214b is located in the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus, and just 40 light-years from Earth. Therefore, it's a prime candidate for study by the planned James Webb Space Telescope.
