Posted on 12/09/2010 9:32:19 AM PST by SunkenCiv
Astronomers have discovered that a huge, searing-hot planet orbiting another star is loaded with an unusual amount of carbon. The planet, a gas giant named WASP-12b, is the first carbon-rich world ever observed. The discovery was made using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, along with previously published ground-based observations.
"This planet reveals the astounding diversity of worlds out there," said Nikku Madhusudhan of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, lead author of a report in the Dec. 9 issue of the journal Nature. "Carbon-rich planets would be exotic in every way -- formation, interiors and atmospheres."
It's possible that WASP-12b might harbor graphite, diamond, or even a more exotic form of carbon in its interior, beneath its gaseous layers. Astronomers don't currently have the technology to observe the cores of exoplanets, or planets orbiting stars beyond our sun, but their theories hint at these intriguing possibilities.
The research also supports theories that carbon-rich rocky planets much less massive than WASP-12b could exist around other stars. Our Earth has rocks like quartz and feldspar, which are made of silicon and oxygen plus other elements. A carbon-rich rocky planet could be a very different place.
"A carbon-dominated terrestrial world could have lots of pure carbon rocks, like diamond or graphite, as well as carbon compounds like tar," said Joseph Harrington of the University of Central Florida, in Orlando, who is the principal investigator of the research.
(Excerpt) Read more at jpl.nasa.gov ...
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http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/multimedia/pia13691.html
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/504124main_pia13691-43_800-600.jpg
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http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/multimedia/pia13690.html
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/504136main_pia13690-43_800-600.jpg
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/504137main_pia13690-43_946-710.jpg
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/504139main_pia13690-43_1600-1200.jpg
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/504138main_pia13690-43_1024-768.jpg
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/504140main_pia13690-43_full.jpg
WASP-12b? Does Obama know about this? Must be a racist planet?
once you get past the gaseous layers,, there might be precious stuff? I’ll pass..
Cool name.. WASP-12b
Gore goes apoplectic...
;’)
Al won’t care, as long as the planet has carbon-based chicks with poor eyesight.
ROFL!
“Planet Number Nine”
This from NASA? (I don’t believe it).
LOL!
Maybe they’ll name it Bucky’s World.
BREAKING NEWS! The abdication of the West — the sting at Cancun ( Global Warming?????)
More Carbon than Oxygen? How big are their SUVs? Pretty soon we’ll be paying Cap and Trade taxes for Universe Climate Change.
Hey, if it saves just one space-polar-bear cub from drowning in a rising sea of methane, it's worth it...
Aw. You got me at “cub.”
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