Up to seven planets found around star
Posted: Wed, Aug 25, 2010, 8:38 AM ET (1238 GMT)
Astronomers announced Tuesday that they have found as many as seven planets orbiting a
Sun-like star, the most planets found to date discovered around a star other than our Sun. Astronomers using a sensitive spectrograph attached to a 3.6-meter telescope operated by the European Southern Observatory in Chile confirmed the presence of at least five planets similar in size to Neptune, with masses between 13 and 25 times that of the Earth, orbiting the star HD 10180, 127 light-years away. Those planets are orbiting at distances between 0.06 and 1.4 astronomical units. Astronomers also believe there may be two other planets around the same star: a larger one roughly the size of Saturn with an orbital period of six years, and one as small as 1.4 Earth masses with an orbital period of just over one day. That planet, if confirmed, would be the smallest exoplanet yet discovered around a Sun-like star. The team detected the planets using the radial velocity technique, measuring Doppler shifts in the star's spectral lines causes by the wobble created by the orbiting planets' gravitational pull.
Astronomers announced Tuesday that they have found as many as seven planets orbiting a
Sun-like star, the most planets found to date discovered around a star other than our Sun. Astronomers using a sensitive spectrograph attached to a 3.6-meter telescope operated by the European Southern Observatory in Chile confirmed the presence of at least five planets similar in size to Neptune, with masses between 13 and 25 times that of the Earth, orbiting the star HD 10180, 127 light-years away. Those planets are orbiting at distances between 0.06 and 1.4 astronomical units. Astronomers also believe there may be two other planets around the same star: a larger one roughly the size of Saturn with an orbital period of six years, and one as small as 1.4 Earth masses with an orbital period of just over one day. That planet, if confirmed, would be the smallest exoplanet yet discovered around a Sun-like star. The team detected the planets using the radial velocity technique, measuring Doppler shifts in the star's spectral lines causes by the wobble created by the orbiting planets' gravitational pull.
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) |
