Photo:

The Earth is agog at GJ1214b, a planet we’ve known about since 2009 but have just discovered that it is completely covered in water. Since the temperature of the planet (that orbits 1.3 million miles away from a red dwarf) hovers around 450 degrees fahrenheit the atmosphere is a thick, steamy haze. Scientists are looking forward to investigating more of the alien materials that may exist on the planet. Things like “hot ice” and “superfluid water” may be grazing around our relatively nearby new neighbour.