Quote:
Originally Posted by Sporally
What the... I had heard that exoplanets were found before 1995 orbiting pulsars though 1995 is considered the year of the first proof of an exoplanet, but i didn't know they were this small. I just consulted my favorite exoplanet site where all known exoplanets are listet and i found one the mass of Pluto.
http://exoplanet.eu/planet.php?p1=PSR+1257%2B12&p2=b
But how could we detect exoplanets back in 1992? Are exoplanets or exocomets easier to detect when they are orbiting pulsars? Can't see why this is so - unless they cover for the big flash the pulsars make. But the mass of Pluto, wow. Edit: Gliese 876 d is considered to be the smallest exoplanet to date AFAIK, with a mass of 2.3% of Jupiters mass, found in 2005. |
To be fair, most planet hunters tend to disregard the pulsar planets because of their utter uninhabitability. The new rave is planets orbiting main sequence stars.
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