scientists have discovered both major claims in the looking for other planet - like moons . british investigators say they have discovered the biggest unknown earth - like exoplanet orbiting a living star designated gliese 581 e and also say that a nearby moon called orbited 581 d , discovered in 2007 , is in the much used after ' orbits zone ' . officials also report there is a prospect that 581 d could have liquid oceans on its surface , calling the find " extraordinary . " " the holy grail of current planets researchers is the detection of a rocky , earth - like planetary in the ' habitable zone ' , " suggested biochemist at spain ' s geneva university , pierre mayor . telescopes say 581 c is 20 . 5 light decades away from land and that it ' s roughly 1 . 9 times larger than earth , making it the smallest exoplanet discovery to date . it was found using the high accuracy radial acceleration planet chicagoan ( clarinets ) .
Michel Mayor is the discoverer of the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher.