Thursday, January 9, 2014

ScienceDaily: Extrasolar Planets News

ScienceDaily: Extrasolar Planets News

Many small exoplanets covered in gas: New measurements of mass expand knowledge of exoplanets' compositions

Posted: 08 Jan 2014 10:33 AM PST

NASA's Kepler space telescope discovered thousands of "planetary candidates," but what are the planets made of? To know this, each planet's mass first must be determined. An astronomer reports having measured the masses of approximately 60 exoplanets larger than Earth and smaller than Neptune. The measurements greatly expand scientists' knowledge of sub-Neptune exoplanets because once the mass and size of a planet are known, the density can be determined and the composition of the planet inferred.

Newly discovered celestial object defies categories: Is it a new kind of planet or a rare kind of failed star?

Posted: 08 Jan 2014 08:27 AM PST

An object discovered by astrophysicists nearly 500 light years away from the Sun may challenge traditional understandings about how planets and stars form. The object is located near and likely orbiting a very young star about 440 light years away from the Sun, and is leading astrophysicists to believe that there is not an easy-to-define line between what is and is not a planet.
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