'Super-Earth' spotted in distant sky

[dArKeR]

Paris - European astronomers announced Wednesday they had found a "super-Earth" orbiting a star 50 light years away, a finding that could significantly boost the hunt for worlds beyond our Solar System.

The planet was spotted orbiting a Sun-like star, mu Arae, which is located in a southern constellation called the Altar and which is bright enough to be seen with the naked eye, they said.

The so-far unnamed world, which whizzes around mu Arae in just 9,5 days, is the smallest of the estimated 125 so-called extrasolar planets that have been detected so far.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=31&art_id=qw109344978644S122

NRA, GOP, Bush Crime Family... onboard let's go kill it!!!!!!!!!!

[Cronus Protagonist]

1. WAIT WAIT WAIT!!

First of all.... is there any OIL?

Swiftboat Veterans for Bush

JFK - Drop Bush Not Bombs! - FUCK BUSH
http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13

[RobertSeattle]

2. John O'Neill has already accused Kerry of claiming he was there

Something about 50 miles here or there.

[daleo]

3. A bit of a stretch to compare it to earth.

"But this latest find is far smaller (than Jupiter), with a mass of only 14 times that of the Earth, which puts it in the same ballpark as Uranus for size.

The big difference, though, is that Uranus is an uninhabitable hell, a gassy planet on the far frigid fringes of the Solar System, whereas the new planet appears to be a rocky planet, as the Earth, Mars, Venus and Mercury are, and orbits in a much balmier region.

It has a gassy atmosphere, amounting to about a tenth of its mass, although what this consists of is so far unknown.

The object qualifies "as a 'super-Earth," the ESO said."

The article says it orbits every 9.5 days, which would put it awfully close to its star. If I remember my Kepler's Laws, in our solar system a 9.5 day period would imply that the planet was only about .09 A.U. from the sun. They do call it a sun-like star, so it must orbit pretty close to that distance. It would be very warm, unless the heavy atmosphere shielded a lot of the solar radiation. But, a greenhouse effect could come into play too. So, I doubt if it could support life as we know it. The relatively high gravitational field would also be a problem.

Still, if true it is an interesting development. I don't think anyone predicted rocky planets would be that massive in conventional solar system models.

[Tom Kitten]

4. Now hold on a second!

Uranus might be an uninhabitable gassy hell with many moons and rings circling it but has it truly been probed in detail yet?

Who knows the truth of Uranus?

[TahitiNut]

7. "Who knows the truth of Uranus?"

My proctologist, of course. :shrug: (It had to be said. He's a professional asstronomer.) :silly:

[TheWraith]

6. I think they mean terrestrial, rather than "Earth like"

In the sense that it's a physical planet, rather than a gas giant, as most of the discovered extrasolar planets have been.

[girl gone mad]

12. You're right.

I've been out of school for a few years, but all of the extra-solar system planets that have been discovered are, to my knowledge, too large to be rocky. The vast majority fall within the size/mass range of dwarf stars.

Unfortunately, I haven't kept up with theory. However, theory on planetary formation has never been controversial. My astronomy professor felt pretty strongly that most of the planets being discovered would eend up being re-classified at some point, and I think we're testing the limits of current technology with those.

Of course, as another of my Profs used to always say, you shouldn't bite the hand that feeds you.

[lovuian]

5. I bet they have Weapons of Mass Destruction

lets pay zillions to get there :bounce:

[Voltaire99]

8. Dear People of Super-Earth...

When you see the space probe from our planet glittering as it traces across your sky. . .

. . .blow it to frigging pieces. And whatever you do, don't answer the satellite transmissions. You don't want anything to do with this baboon planet, trust me.

[Bhaisahab]

13. Amen! n/t

[Dem2theMax]

9. And I'm sitting here thinking

"Finally! A place I can move to where NO BUSHIES live!" :evilgrin:

[0007]

10. Perhaps that is where all the dead live?

[pinniped]

11. Was it square?

Maybe it was Bizarro World. *'s home planet!