Your email address is safe with us. View our Privacy policy.
Spacecraft finds strange object in space
The object, named COROT-exo-3b, is so exotic, agency scientists said they are unsure whether the oddity is a planet or a failed star. The object is about the size of Jupiter but has more than 20 times the mass. It takes 4 days, 6 hours to orbit its parent star, which is slightly larger than the sun.
COROT, an unmanned mission led by the French space agency, was launched in 2006. It has the dual objectives of searching for extrasolar planets and performing astroseismology.
"COROT-exo-3b might turn out to be a rare object found by sheer luck", said Francois Bouchy of the French Institute of Astrophysics. "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," he said.
The discovery by COROT -- COnvection ROtation and planetary Transits -- is to be reported in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
Copyright 2008 by United Press International
This news arrived on: 10/06/2008
Printer Friendly Version | Send this page to a friend | Post Comment
Rate This Story:
Great - 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 - Bad
Posted Comments:
Comment archive | Comment FAQ's
 |
 |
View Science & Technology ezine stories by date or visit the complete archive |
The ArcaMax Politics channel is one of 70 content categories offered by ArcaMax Publishing on this ... |
Body Mass
