Regarding the recent "Super-Neptune" discovery:
Quote:
have discovered a planet somewhat larger and more massive than Neptune orbiting a star 120 light-years from Earth.
While Neptune has a diameter 3.8 times that of Earth and a mass 17 times Earth's, the new world (named HAT-P-11b) is 4.7 times the size of Earth and has 25 Earth masses.
|
Quote:
|
The newfound world orbits very close to its star, revolving once every 4.88 days. As a result, it is baked to a temperature of around 1100 degrees F. The star itself is about three-fourths the size of our Sun and somewhat cooler.
|
Quote:
|
There are signs of a second planet in the HAT-P-11 system
|
Quote:
|
HAT-P-11 is in the constellation Cygnus, which puts in it the field of view of NASA's upcoming Kepler spacecraft. Kepler will search for extrasolar planets using the same transit technique pioneered by ground-based telescopes. This mission potentially could detect the first Earth-like world orbiting a distant star.
|
{I thought we'd already discovered the 1st Earth-like world orbiting a distant star??}
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=27404
__________________
There in the valley of Scorpio, beneath the Cross of jade
Smoking on the seashell pipe the gypsies had made
We sat and we dreamed a while...in that crystal thought time in Mexico. ~Donovan
|