spacetoday.net: Astronomers find Jupiter- and Saturn-like exoplanets around distant star

Astronomers find Jupiter- and Saturn-like exoplanets around distant star

Posted: Fri, Feb 15, 2008, 6:28 AM ET (1128 GMT)
Illustration of mini Jupiter and Saturn (OSU)

A collaboration of professional and amateur astronomers has discovered two exoplanets, smaller versions of Jupiter and Saturn, orbiting a distant star. Astronomers used a technique called microlensing, where the gravity of an intervening object acts as a magnifying lens, briefly brightening a more distant object. The two planets were detected as "blips" during a microlensing event when their star, 5,000 light-years from Earth, passed in front of a more distant star. The two planets are about 80 percent the size of Jupiter and Saturn, and astronomers said the overall solar system is a smaller analog of our own solar system.