Katie Reynolds
27-08-2004, 21:49
In a discovery that has left one expert stunned, European astronomers have found one of the smallest planets known outside our solar system, a world about 14 times the mass of our own around a star much like the sun.
It could be a rocky planet with a thin atmosphere, a sort of "super Earth," the researchers said today.
But this is no typical Earth. It completes its tight orbit in less than 10 days, compared to the 365 required for our year. Its daytime face would be scorched.
The planet's surface conditions aren't known, said Portuguese researcher Nuno Santos, who led the discovery. "However, we can expect it to be quite hot, given the proximity to the star."
Hot as in around 1,160 degrees Fahrenheit (900 Kelvin), Santos said.
Still, the discovery is a significant advance in technology: No planet so small has ever been detected around a normal star. And the finding reveals a solar system more similar to our own than anything found so far.
Read more at: http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/08/26/new.planet/index.html
It could be a rocky planet with a thin atmosphere, a sort of "super Earth," the researchers said today.
But this is no typical Earth. It completes its tight orbit in less than 10 days, compared to the 365 required for our year. Its daytime face would be scorched.
The planet's surface conditions aren't known, said Portuguese researcher Nuno Santos, who led the discovery. "However, we can expect it to be quite hot, given the proximity to the star."
Hot as in around 1,160 degrees Fahrenheit (900 Kelvin), Santos said.
Still, the discovery is a significant advance in technology: No planet so small has ever been detected around a normal star. And the finding reveals a solar system more similar to our own than anything found so far.
Read more at: http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/08/26/new.planet/index.html