Terrestrial planets discovered in the Milky Way

Earth-like planets have been discovered in the Milky Way. Vladislav Ananyev, a researcher at the Department of Planetary Physics at the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IKI RAS), reported this to TASS.

“Planets can consist of iron, silicates - iron-stone worlds, like Earth, Venus, Mercury, Mars, that is, terrestrial planets,” the scientist said.

According to her, other exoplanets may consist mainly of hydrogen and helium, thereby resembling the gas giants of the solar system - Jupiter and Saturn. Also in the Galaxy there may be exopnets, mainly consisting, like Uranus and Neptune, of water ice.

In July, Space.com reported that astronomers had directly discovered for the first time a rocky, Earth-like exoplanet with an atmosphere—the object, designated LHS 1140 b, is 48 light-years from Earth and contains helium in its gaseous envelope.