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Confirmed Exoplanets Could Reach 500 by the End of This Month
Popular Science ^ | Tuesday, October 12, 2010 | Clay Dillow

Posted on 10/16/2010 4:48:43 PM PDT by SunkenCiv

If it seems like a new extrasolar planet is discovered every week these days, that's because there is. In fact, the rate is actually faster than one per week -- 70 have been discovered thus far this year alone, bringing the overall tally of confirmed exoplanets at 494. At that pace we very well might hit exoplanet number 500 before the end of this month... The first definitive exoplanet was confirmed in 1992, and it's taken us almost two decades to cross the 500 threshold. But given the drastic uptick in discoveries and the increased scientific emphasis on exoplanet discovery, some researchers think we'll log number 1,000 in the next few years... Better technology has allowed astronomers to assert with far greater certainty that a flicker in a star's brightness or a small wobble in its position is indeed caused by an orbiting body.

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


TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: gliese581; gliese581c; gliese581g; xplanets
Gliese 581 Artist's rendering of the star Gliese 581, with exoplanet Gliese 581c (neighbor to newly discovered Gliese 581g) in the foreground. ESO

Gliese 581 Artist's rendering of the star Gliese 581, with exoplanet Gliese 581c (neighbor to newly discovered Gliese 581g) in the foreground. ESO

1 posted on 10/16/2010 4:48:45 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
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To: KevinDavis; annie laurie; garbageseeker; Knitting A Conundrum; Viking2002; Ernest_at_the_Beach; ...
 
X-Planets
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2 posted on 10/16/2010 4:49:07 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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To: SunkenCiv

What is an exoplanet?


3 posted on 10/16/2010 4:54:11 PM PDT by webstersII
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Width restricted to 400.
[I think this artist's conception comes from NASA]

Gliese 581g

4 posted on 10/16/2010 4:56:29 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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To: webstersII

It’s a planet in orbit around a star other than our Sun.


5 posted on 10/16/2010 5:16:15 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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To: webstersII

Any planet orbiting a star other than ours.


6 posted on 10/16/2010 5:24:04 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (Islam is the religion of Satan and Mohammed was his minion.)
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To: webstersII

eggplant?


7 posted on 10/16/2010 5:37:45 PM PDT by Salvey
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To: SunkenCiv
Our (mankind) knowledge keeps increasing on this subject. Too bad our country has fallen behind. But it's racist to let Muslims feel bad and to forget about climate change.


8 posted on 10/16/2010 7:03:12 PM PDT by Dallas59 (President Robert Gibbs 2009-2013)
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To: Dallas59

:’)


9 posted on 10/16/2010 9:25:25 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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