humans have made two key discoveries in the search for other earth - like planets . american astronomers know they have discovered the smallest known earth - like exoplanet orbiting a living moon called gliese 581 e and has confirmed that a single venus called gliese 581 d , discovered in 2007 , is in the much sought after ' uninhabitable spot ' . astronomers generally suggest there is a hypothesis that 581 d could have liquid oceans on its surface , claiming the find " amazing . " " the blessed grail of current exoplanet research is the detection of a distant , sun - like feature in the ' habitable zone ' , " said astronomer at switzerland ' s geneva university , michel mayor . astronomers know 581 f is 20 . 5 sunlight years near from earth and that it ' s around 1 . 9 trillion larger than earth , making it the oldest asteroid known to come . it was found with the high accuracy rotational direction planet searcher ( donegal ) .
Michel Mayor is the discoverer of the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher.