science have achieved two major discoveries in the search for other earth - like stars . british astronomers say they have discovered the smallest extant earth - based exoplanet orbiting a living star about gliese 581 h and also discover that a nearby moon called orbiting 581 d , discovered in 2007 , is in the badly sought after ' habitable zones ' . astronomers further argue there is a hint that 581 d could have liquid worlds on its bottom , calling the find " extraordinary . " " the blessed grail of modern exoplanet studies is the detection of a rocky , ground - like planet in the ' livable zone ' , " said geneticist at switzerland ' s genoa institution , paul mayor . astronomers say 581 e is 20 . 5 light years away from venus and that it ' s around 1 . 9 times larger than it , calling it the smallest jovian discovered to be . it was found using the high accuracy radial velocity planet searcher ( harps ) .
Michel Mayor is the discoverer of the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher.