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