New Extra-Solar Planet Found
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Another extra solar planet was found, and this one is around a star in the constellation Cancer called 55 Cancri. That particular star already has four known planets and the exciting thing is the newly found planet is just 116.7 million km or 72 million miles from the star; compare that with our location 92 (+/-) million miles from Sol. It may be a bit closer to its star than we are to ours, but Cancri 55 is just a bit dimmer than ours too. That puts it in what is known as the habitable zone, that zone were temperatures are sufficient to allow water to pool on a solid surface. That does NOT mean there is life on the new planet but it’s possible.
The planet has an estimated mass of 45 times of ours and orbits it’s star about every 260 days. The speculation is this is a planet similar to Saturn.
I’m telling you, I just never cease to be amazed at how good these people are getting at finding extra-solar planets. If I can get up early enough I should try to get an image of the star. I of course wouldn’t see any planets, but I could show it to some school groups and say look that star has planets it’s an easy mag 5.95. Next morning I have a good sky I’ll do it right after I catch another image of the comet.
To read more about the new planet as well as how they found it go here.
Image Credit: NASA
I just hope I live long enough to see the next generation of orbital telescope(s). That huge binocular thingy is going to be a trip! Durn, these folks is gettin’ smart! I just looked out and at the satellite photos and we’ve got a beautiful clear night tonight. I’m going back out in the country but this time I’m taking a compass! The sky was so clear Friday night I couldn’t make out a single recognizable land?mark in the sky… Not even Cassiopeia! Of course Orion rises and gets up above the horizon about 10 or 11 but I don’t know if I would have been able to find IT with that many stars visible. I must have been seeing magnitude 6 and 7 stars… Eat your heart out, Tom.
Where is a good place that I can publish (post) photos? Astronomical and otherwise…
Heh, well I can see down to about mag 6, except on nights like tonight, where I’m fighting clouds.
You can put images online at flicker and/or photobucket. Send one my way by email will ya?
Will do.
Done
[...] news is shared by Tom’s Astronomy Blog and Spaceports. Space Scan points out that 55 Cancri’s Fifth Planet Is Perhaps Not It’s [...]