Tiniest extrasolar planet found

By Paul Rincon Science reporter, BBC News

Astronomers have sighted the smallest extrasolar planet yet orbiting a normal star - a distant world just three times the size of our own.
Discovering a planet with a similar mass to that of Earth is considered the "holy grail" of research into planets that lie outside our Solar System.
It is vital because researchers want to find other worlds that could host life.
The planet orbits a star which is itself of such low mass it may in fact be a "failed star", or brown dwarf.
Astronomers found the new world using a technique called gravitational microlensing. This takes advantage of the fact that light is bent as the rays pass close to a massive object, like a star.