scientists have done two noteworthy revelations in the search for other earth - like planets . british astronomers know they have found the first known earth - like exoplanet orbiting a living star call gliese 581 se and had discovered that a nearby planet called habitable 581 d , published in 2007 , is in the much sought after ' habitable zones ' . astronomers also believe there is a possibility that 581 d could have no ocean on its level , considering the discoveries " extraordinary . " " the spiritual grail of current gliese research is the detection of a rocky , moon - like object in the ' asteroids zone ' , " spoke physicist at switzerland ' s zurich university , michel mayor . scientists say 581 e is 20 . 5 light years near from earth and that it ' s roughly 1 . 9 times larger than io , making it the smallest exoplanet located to date . it was found using the high instrument circular velocity object searcher ( harps ) .
Michel Mayor is the discoverer of the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher.