Asub-Earth is aplanet "substantially less massive" thanEarth andVenus.[1] In theSolar System, this category includesMercury andMars. Sub-Earthexoplanets are among the most difficult type to detect because their small sizes and masses produce the weakest signals. Despite the difficulty, one of the firstexoplanets found was a sub-Earth around amillisecond pulsarPSR B1257+12. The smallest known isWD 1145+017 b with a size of 0.15 Earth radii, or somewhat smaller thanPluto. However,WD 1145+017 b is not massive enough to qualify as a sub-Earthclassical planet and is instead defined as aminor, ordwarf, planet.[2] It is orbiting within a thick cloud of dust and gas as chunks of itself continually break off to then spiral in towards the star, and within around 5,000 years it will have more-or-less disintegrated.[3]
TheKepler space telescope opened up a new realm of sub-Earth discoveries. On January 10, 2012, Kepler discovered the first three sub-Earths around an ordinary star,Kepler-42. As of June 2014, Kepler has 45 confirmed planets that are smaller than Earth, with 17 of them being smaller than 0.8 Rⴲ. In addition, there are over 310 planet candidates with an estimated radius of <1 Rⴲ, with 135 of them being smaller than 0.8 Rⴲ.[1][4]
There is suspected to be a sub-Earth orbitingProxima Centauri, the closest star to the Sun.[5] The mass ofProxima d is believed to be between that of Mars and Venus.[6]
Sub-Earths commonly lack substantial atmospheres because of their low gravity and weakmagnetic fields, allowing stellar radiation to wear away their atmospheres.[1] Due to their small sizes, and unless there are significanttidal forces when orbiting close to the parent star, sub-Earths also have short periods of geologic activity.
