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The discoveries are coming at a furious pace nowadays, it seems. It's amazing that all extrasolar planet discoveries to date have been during my lifetime -- a truly epic shift.
An excerpt from BBC.
An excerpt from BBC.
Scientists announce planet bounty
By Jonathan Amos
Science reporter, BBC News
Gliese 667C (ESO/L. Calçada)
Artist's impression: Astronomers are finding smaller and smaller planets
Astronomers have announced a haul of planets found beyond our Solar System.
The 32 "exoplanets" ranged in size from five times the mass of Earth to 5-10 times the mass of Jupiter, the researchers said.
They were found using a very sensitive instrument on a 3.6m telescope at the European Southern Observatory's La Silla facility in Chile.
The discovery is exciting because it suggests that low-mass planets could be numerous in our galaxy.
"From [our] results, we know now that at least 40% of solar-type stars have low-mass planets. This is really important because it means that low-mass planets are everywhere, basically," explained Stephane Udry from Geneva University, Switzerland.
"What's very interesting is that models are predicting them, and we are finding them; and furthermore the models are predicting even more lower-mass planets like the Earth."
By Jonathan Amos
Science reporter, BBC News
Gliese 667C (ESO/L. Calçada)
Artist's impression: Astronomers are finding smaller and smaller planets
Astronomers have announced a haul of planets found beyond our Solar System.
The 32 "exoplanets" ranged in size from five times the mass of Earth to 5-10 times the mass of Jupiter, the researchers said.
They were found using a very sensitive instrument on a 3.6m telescope at the European Southern Observatory's La Silla facility in Chile.
The discovery is exciting because it suggests that low-mass planets could be numerous in our galaxy.
"From [our] results, we know now that at least 40% of solar-type stars have low-mass planets. This is really important because it means that low-mass planets are everywhere, basically," explained Stephane Udry from Geneva University, Switzerland.
"What's very interesting is that models are predicting them, and we are finding them; and furthermore the models are predicting even more lower-mass planets like the Earth."
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