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Alien world is slimmest and fastest known [ COROT Exo-7b ]
New Scientist ^ | Tuesday, February 3, 2009 | Govert Schilling

Posted on 02/03/2009 7:06:30 PM PST by SunkenCiv

The planet, known as Exo-7b, lies about 390 light years away and orbits a star slightly smaller and cooler than the Sun... The method revealed the world's tiny size, but could not pin down its mass precisely. To do that, researchers must search for the subtle wobbles the orbiting planet induces in its host star, a difficult task since the star's own roiling activity can mask the subtle gravitational tugs of a lightweight planet. Nonetheless, it weighs in the neighbourhood of several Earths, which puts it in the running for the lightest exoplanet known to orbit a normal star. (A less massive planet has been found orbiting a dead pulsar, but its physical size has not been measured.) COROT-Exo-7b orbits its star in only 20 hours and is heated to over 1000° Celsius, making it much too hot to support life. But its discovery offers observational proof that small planets can exist at close distances to their host stars.

(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: corot; exo7b; telescope; xplanets
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To: SunkenCiv
Try “GoodSearch”.

http://www.goodsearch.com/Default.aspx

The donate money to a charity of your choice for each search.

21 posted on 02/06/2009 4:26:16 PM PST by Forgiven_Sinner (For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son that whosoever believes in Him should not die)
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To: Forgiven_Sinner

Thanks!


22 posted on 02/06/2009 4:40:05 PM PST by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/____________________ Profile updated Monday, January 12, 2009)
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To: Dallas59

We’d have to send them, they sure won’t pay for the trip themselves!


23 posted on 02/06/2009 4:49:24 PM PST by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/____________________ Profile updated Monday, January 12, 2009)
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