Exoplanet Discoveries, discussion of the latest finds |
Exoplanet Discoveries, discussion of the latest finds |
Guest_PhilCo126_* |
Apr 21 2009, 11:10 AM
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#1
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Guests |
Well-known exoplanet researcher Dr Michel Mayor ( discoverer of Peg 51b with Dr Didier Queloz in 1995 ) today announced the discovery of the lightest exoplanet found so far. The planet, “e”, in the famous system Gliese 581, is only about twice the mass of our Earth. The team also refined the orbit of the planet Gliese 581 d, first discovered in 2007, placing it well within the habitable zone, where liquid water oceans could exist:
http://www.eso.org/public/outreach/press-r...9/pr-15-09.html |
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Dec 6 2009, 04:00 AM
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#2
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1452 Joined: 26-July 08 Member No.: 4270 |
I'm quite unsure as to why this is being made into such a big deal. The mass of the two objects are quite unconstrained (and in the case of c, it's not even known for sure if it's bound to the system). Even the minimum mass of 10 M_J for B is so high that it's hard to say for sure that this object would be a planet. Also, another object like this was imaged at 1RXS J160929.1-210524 with a mass of 8 M_J, but it's unknown if the object is bound to the system.
-------------------- -- Hungry4info (Sirius_Alpha)
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