It was first detected light reflected from the super-Earths outside the solar system

For the first time, NASA's space telescope, was discovered by the light from a distant "super-Earths" with dimensions that exceed the size of our own Earth in half. Astronomers call this historic achievement in space exploration.

NASA's Infrared Space Telescope - Spitzer, identified the light from alien planet 55 Cancri e, which revolves around its star at a distance of 40 light years from Earth. First extrasolar planet at this lasts only 18 hours. The planet 55 Cancri e was originally discovered in 2004 and was not considered habitable world. Instead, it was known as super-Earths because of its large size: the planet twice as wide as Earth and has about eight of the masses of our planet. But, until now, scientists have never been able to detect infrared light reflected from superzemnogo world.

"Spitzer strikes us again and again" - said the lead scientist of the program, Bill Spitzer Dench, of NASA headquarters in Washington, in a statement on 8 May. "Space is an unmanned spacecraft study of the atmospheres of distant planets, and paves the way for him next space telescope James Webb Space Telescope, which will have to apply more advanced methods of research on potentially habitable planets."

Worth $ 770 million, NASA's space telescope Spitzer, launched in 2003 and currently is in the long-term mission to study the universe in infrared light. During that long telescope mission engineers have changed some settings in the space observatory to optimize its vision of extrasolar planets suitable for life, NASA scientists say.

The next, equally important, an infrared space observatory NASA - James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled for launch in 2018. On assurances of scientists, it is potentially able to show much more detail on the planet 55 Cancri e, and on other similar planets superzemnyh.

"When we first conceived Spitzer - more than 40 years ago - not even extrasolar planets have been discovered," said Michael Werner, Spitzer project coordinator of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "Because Spitzer was designed very well, he was able to adapt to this new area of ​​research and to make historical discoveries such as this."