scientists have made two key contributions in the search for other terrestrial - bound asteroids . british astronomers say they have unearthed the deepest visible earth - type exoplanet orbiting a living star labeled extrasolar 581 e and also discovered that a nearby planets called orbiting 581 d , released in 2007 , is in the much sought after ' inhabited zone ' . astronomers also believe there is a hint that 581 d also have liquid oceans on its surface , calling the find " extraordinary . " " the catholic quest of current gliese research is the finding of a rocky , star - like planet in the ' habitable zone ' , " told astrophysicist at switzerland ' s basel university , michel mayor . astronomers say 581 d is 20 . 5 light years apart from mars and that it ' s barely 1 . 9 times larger than earth , making it the smallest exoplanet discovered to exist . it was confirmed using the higher instrument radial velocity star searcher ( harp ) .
Michel Mayor is the discoverer of the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher.