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Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Kepler-78b: Earth-Sized Planet Discovered
NASA ^ | November 05, 2013 | (see photo credit)

Posted on 11/04/2013 9:08:42 PM PST by SunkenCiv

Explanation: Even though Kepler-78b is only slightly larger than the Earth, it should not exist. Its size is extraordinary only in the sense that it is the most similar in size to the Earth of any exoplanet yet directly discovered. Its orbit, however, is extraordinary in the sense that it circles a Sun-like star 40 times closer than planet Mercury. At such a scathing distance, even rock is liquid. Models of planet formation predict that no planet can form in such a close orbit, and models of planet evolution predict that Kepler-78b's orbit should decay -- dooming the planet to eventually merge with its parent star. Illustrated above in comparison with the Earth, Kepler-78b was discovered by eclipse with the Earth-orbiting Kepler spacecraft and further monitored for subtle wobbles by the HARPS- North, a spectrograph attached to the 3.6-meter Telescopio Nazionale Galileo in the Canary Islands.

November 05, 2013

(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; astronomy; kepler78b; science; xplanets
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To: Vendome

Radio intercepts have shown that there is great concern on the newly discovered planet that SUVs are creating global warming and are the reason for high temperatures and increased incidence of skin cancer.


41 posted on 11/05/2013 3:59:20 PM PST by KC Burke (Officially since Memorial Day they are the Gimmie-crat Party.h)
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To: editor-surveyor

Rely on your ex cathedra statements? My a$$!


42 posted on 11/05/2013 5:05:55 PM PST by SunkenCiv (http://www.freerepublic.com/~mestamachine/)
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To: SunkenCiv

Sorry to have harmed your dream.


43 posted on 11/05/2013 6:02:01 PM PST by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: editor-surveyor

Your delusion of psychic powers doesn’t do anything to any of my dreams, not least because I haven’t stated any here. That’s your gig.


44 posted on 11/05/2013 7:48:07 PM PST by SunkenCiv (http://www.freerepublic.com/~mestamachine/)
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To: SunkenCiv

Psychic powers?

Are you sure that you clicked the right post?


45 posted on 11/06/2013 9:14:04 AM PST by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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Seeking another Earth, by the numbers
University of Maryland astronomer crunches data on extrasolar worlds
November 22, 2013|By Arthur Hirsch, The Baltimore Sun
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-11-22/health/bs-hs-sci-telescope-20131122_1_earth-kepler-78b-planet


46 posted on 11/23/2013 7:04:06 PM PST by SunkenCiv (http://www.freerepublic.com/~mestamachine/)
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