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Huge Planet Defies Explanation
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Posted 2008-10-07, 03:09 PM
http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/200810...iesexplanation

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Astronomers have sighted a very dense planet-sized object that orbits its parent star in just four days and six hours.

The object, COROT-exo-3b, fits into the category of a failed star known as a brown dwarf, but the team that made the discovery has not ruled out the possibility that it is a planet. Brown dwarfs are failed stars. They burn lithium but are not massive enough to generate the thermonuclear fusion of hydrogen and helium that powers real stars. Planets do none of that.

"It has puzzled us; we're not sure where to draw the boundary between planets and brown dwarfs," said Hans Deeg, an astronomer at the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC) in the Canary Islands, Spain.

The object has a mass 20 times greater than that of Jupiter, but is roughly the same size. It falls outside the range of planets and stars discovered to date, with the largest planets having 12-Jupiter-mass and the smallest stars 70-Jupiter-mass.

If astronomers confirm the object as a planet, it would weigh in as the most massive and densest planet found so far. A full study will be detailed in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

"COROT-exo-3b might turn out to be a rare object found by sheer luck", said Francois Bouchy, an astronomer at the Institut d'Astrophysique in Paris. "But it might just be a member of a new-found family of very massive planets that encircle stars more massive than our sun. We're now beginning to think that the more massive the star, the more massive the planet."

Ground-based telescopes around the world helped pinpoint the object, including observatories in France, Chile, Germany, Hawaii, Israel and Spain's Canary Islands.

The hunt for exoplanets has intensified over recent years, with astronomers usually finding such objects indirectly by observing their gravitational influence on parent stars. Another team showcased what might be the first direct image of an exoplanet around a sun-like star in September.
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Posted 2008-10-08, 11:08 AM in reply to Sum Yung Guy's post "Huge Planet Defies Explanation"
I always wish that these kind of reports would have pictures.
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Posted 2008-10-08, 12:12 PM in reply to Jessifer's post starting "I always wish that these kind of..."
There aren't any pictures. The planet was observed indirectly.
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Posted 2008-10-08, 12:15 PM in reply to WetWired's post starting "There aren't any pictures. The planet..."
I am aware of this. It was merely a comment.
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Posted 2008-10-08, 01:11 PM in reply to Jessifer's post starting "I am aware of this. It was merely a..."
Jessifer said: [Goto]
I am aware of this. It was merely a comment.
Oop, forgot to add the picture of it.
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File Type: jpg huhuh.jpg (58.9 KB, 12 views)
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Posted 2008-10-08, 01:21 PM in reply to Sum Yung Guy's post starting "Oop, forgot to add the picture of it."
That picture is intense.
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Posted 2008-10-08, 01:24 PM in reply to Sum Yung Guy's post starting "Oop, forgot to add the picture of it."
Sum Yung Guy said: [Goto]
Oop, forgot to add the picture of it.

Yaaay! Thank you, SYG!
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