New "Super Earth" Found at Right Distance for Life

Dim star would give any atmosphere red glow, like "evening all the time." An artist's depiction of GJ 667Cc orbiting a red dwarf, with its binary companion stars in the distance. A new planet—probably a rocky super-Earth—has been found squarely within its star's habitable zone, making it one of the best candidates yet to support life, its discoverers say. The planet, dubbed GJ 667Cc, orbits a red dwarf star 22 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Scorpio. A binary pair of orange dwarf stars are part of the same system.