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
|
|
Apex becomes billion-dollar company with $200 million Series D round
Posted: Sun, Sep 14 4:09 AM ET (0809 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Monday, September 15
Elon Musk's Starlink reports service outage, thousands of users affected
Reuters — 1:23 am ET (0523 GMT) What does the loss of U.S. Space Command mean to Colorado Springs?
Denver Post — 1:21 am ET (0521 GMT) SpaceX Launches Northrop Grumman Cargo Ship To ISS
Aviation Week — 1:18 am ET (0518 GMT) SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral on Sunday
WESH-TV Orlando — 1:18 am ET (0518 GMT) Apollo 13 made Jim Lovell a legend generations after the space race
The Hill — 1:09 am ET (0509 GMT) |
