Tuesday, May 7, 2013

ScienceDaily: Extrasolar Planets News

ScienceDaily: Extrasolar Planets News


NASA's Spitzer puts planets in a petri dish

Posted: 06 May 2013 01:10 PM PDT

Our galaxy is teeming with a wild variety of planets. In addition to our solar system's eight near-and-dear planets, there are more than 800 so-called exoplanets known to circle stars beyond our sun. One of the first "species" of exoplanets to be discovered is the hot Jupiters, also known as roasters. These are gas giants like Jupiters, but they orbit closely to their stars, blistering under the heat. Thanks to NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, researchers are beginning to dissect this exotic class of planets, revealing raging winds and other aspects of their turbulent nature.

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