Posted on 05/17/2007 8:04:49 PM PDT by KevinDavis
A bizarre world of scorching hot ice shrouded in a steamy atmosphere may have been found, according to new observations. Characterising the Neptune-size planet is an important milestone on the way to detecting and characterising Earth-like planets that could harbour life.
Astronomers have discovered more than 200 planets orbiting other stars, called extrasolar planets or exoplanets. Almost all of these were detected by the way their gravity makes their parent stars wobble. But this technique, called the radial velocity method, reveals very little about the planet except for the size of its orbit and an estimate of its mass.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.newscientist.com ...
Made of stolen diamonds?
nyah, nyah. ;’)
Small Swiss observatory finds ice planet
swissinfo | May 16, 2007 | Robert Brookes
Posted on 05/16/2007 1:23:01 PM EDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1834588/posts
 |
||
| · join · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post new topic · | ||
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.