Exoplanet Dubbed HD156668b Discovered by Andrew Howard

A former neighbor in St. Louis Park MN and a friend of my sons, now a professor, astronomer Andrew Howard of the University of California at Berkeley, and  his colleagues from the California Planet Search team (CPS), made a remarkable scientific discovery:

Second smallest exoplanet found to date discovered at Keck

WASHINGTON D.C.— Planet hunters using Keck Observatory have detected an extrasolar planet that is only four times the mass of Earth. The planet is the second smallest exoplanet ever discovered and adds to astronomers’ growing cadre of low mass planets called super-Earths...more...

Credit another accomplishment to the good schools of St. Louis Park! [Hat tip to Barak.]