scientists have made three major discoveries in the search for other mars - bound planets . english astronomers believe they have established the smallest known earth - like exoplanet orbiting a living star called planet 581 e and also discovered that a near planet designated light-years 581 d , observed in 2007 , is in the much needed after ' habitable zone ' . scholars therefore believe there is a risk that 581 d might have liquid oceans on its part , calling the find " miraculous . " " the holy grail of now exoplanet research is the detection of a stable , planet - like planet in the ' habitable zone ' , " states astrophysicist at britain ' s lyon university , michel mayor . astronomers estimate 581 r is 20 . 5 heavy years away from earth and that it ' s nearly 1 . 9 tenth larger than earth , making it the smallest exoplanet discovered to date . it was found using the high fidelity angular direction planet searcher ( harps ) .
Michel Mayor is the discoverer of the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher.