Tuesday, January 7, 2014

ScienceDaily: Extrasolar Planets News

ScienceDaily: Extrasolar Planets News


Newfound planet is Earth-mass but gassy

Posted: 06 Jan 2014 01:00 PM PST

An international team of astronomers has discovered the first Earth-mass planet that transits, or crosses in front of, its host star. KOI-314c is the lightest planet to have both its mass and physical size measured. Surprisingly, although the planet weighs the same as Earth, it is 60 percent larger in diameter, meaning that it must have a very thick, gaseous atmosphere.

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