Astronomers confirm discovery of rocky exoplanet
Posted: Thu, Sep 17, 2009, 9:01 AM ET (1301 GMT)
Astronomers announced Wednesday that they have confirmed that an extrasolar planet closely orbiting another star is likely a "super-Earth" with a rocky surface. Astronomers used a telescope at the European Southern Observatory to examine CoRoT-7b, an exoplanet discovered earlier this year by the French astronomy satellite CoRoT. At the time astronomers knew that the planet completed one orbit in just 20.4 hours, and assumed that it was likely a terrestrial body, but had no direct information about its mass. The new radial velocity observations of CoRoT-7b found that the planet has a mass five times that of Earth, and a radius 80 percent larger, giving it a density similar to that of Earth. The planet is the smallest exoplanet discovered to date, and also the closest to orbit its parent star.
Astronomers announced Wednesday that they have confirmed that an extrasolar planet closely orbiting another star is likely a "super-Earth" with a rocky surface. Astronomers used a telescope at the European Southern Observatory to examine CoRoT-7b, an exoplanet discovered earlier this year by the French astronomy satellite CoRoT. At the time astronomers knew that the planet completed one orbit in just 20.4 hours, and assumed that it was likely a terrestrial body, but had no direct information about its mass. The new radial velocity observations of CoRoT-7b found that the planet has a mass five times that of Earth, and a radius 80 percent larger, giving it a density similar to that of Earth. The planet is the smallest exoplanet discovered to date, and also the closest to orbit its parent star.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Sunday, October 19
Greedy black hole feeds via two spiral arms
Netherlands Research School for Astronomy — 12:39 pm ET (1639 GMT) Kymeta Selected As Multi-Orbit SATCOM Provider For U.S. Army’s NGC2 Pilot
Kymeta — 12:37 pm ET (1637 GMT) Solstar Space Signs $15 Million Global Agreement with Momentus
Solstar Space Co. — 12:36 pm ET (1636 GMT) ANT61 Signs LOI with Lumir
Space and Defense — 12:36 pm ET (1636 GMT) TracPlus and OroraTech Launch First-of-Its-Kind Two-Way Data Integration to Accelerate Wildfire Decision-Making
OroraTech — 12:35 pm ET (1635 GMT) |
