Small exoplanet discovered
Posted: Thu, Jan 26, 2006, 7:21 AM ET (1221 GMT)
Astronomers have discovered a distant extrasolar planet with a mass only five times that of the Earth. In a paper published in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, an international team of astronomers reported that they have found a planet orbiting the star OGLE-2005-BLG-390L, about 20,000 light-years from Earth near the center of the Milky Way galaxy. The star created a "microlensing" event when it passed between the Earth and a more distant star; its gravity magnified the light of that distant star as seen from Earth. Astronomers found a "defect" in the characteristic smooth lightcurve of the microlensing event, which astronomers believe is caused by a planet orbiting the microlensing star. Based on that blip in the lightcurve, astronomers believe that the exoplanet weighs about five times the mass of the Earth, and orbits OGLE-2005-BLG-390L at a distance of about 3 AU. While some reports described the planet as "Earth-like", astronomers believe the planet is more likely an icy world, a giant version of Pluto. The exoplanet is the among the smallest discovered to date. The serendipitous discovery leads some researchers to conclude the small exoplanets may exist around many stars.
Astronomers have discovered a distant extrasolar planet with a mass only five times that of the Earth. In a paper published in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, an international team of astronomers reported that they have found a planet orbiting the star OGLE-2005-BLG-390L, about 20,000 light-years from Earth near the center of the Milky Way galaxy. The star created a "microlensing" event when it passed between the Earth and a more distant star; its gravity magnified the light of that distant star as seen from Earth. Astronomers found a "defect" in the characteristic smooth lightcurve of the microlensing event, which astronomers believe is caused by a planet orbiting the microlensing star. Based on that blip in the lightcurve, astronomers believe that the exoplanet weighs about five times the mass of the Earth, and orbits OGLE-2005-BLG-390L at a distance of about 3 AU. While some reports described the planet as "Earth-like", astronomers believe the planet is more likely an icy world, a giant version of Pluto. The exoplanet is the among the smallest discovered to date. The serendipitous discovery leads some researchers to conclude the small exoplanets may exist around many stars.
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