Doc
12-19-2012, 01:55 PM
Tau Ceti's planets nearest around single, Sun-like star
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/64836000/jpg/_64836461_64827555.jpg An artist's impression shows the five-planet system; from there, our Sun appears in the constellation Bootes
The nearest single Sun-like star to the Earth hosts five planets - one of which is in the "habitable zone" where liquid water can exist, astronomers say.
Tau Ceti's planetary quintet - reported in an online paper (http://star-www.herts.ac.uk/%7Ehraj/tauceti/paper.pdf) that will appear in Astronomy and Astrophysics - was found in existing planet-hunting data.
The study's refined methods of sifting through data should help find even more far-flung worlds.
The star now joins Alpha Centauri as a nearby star known to host planets (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19959531).
In both those cases, the planets were found not by spying them through a telescope but rather by measuring the subtle effects they have on their host stars' light.
Continue reading the main story (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20770103#story_continues_2) Exoplanets http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/63525000/jpg/_63525710_exoplanetfactbox.jpg
An exoplanet is a planet that exists outside our Solar System
Most are giant planets believed to resemble Jupiter or Neptune
The first exoplanet was discovered in 1992, orbiting a pulsar (http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/universe/sights/pulsars)
A few years later, the planet 51 Pegasi B (http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/universe/key_places/51_pegasi) was found orbiting a star similar to the Sun
Hundreds of extrasolar planets have been found since
Watch planet hunters search for exoplanets (http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/universe/sights/extrasolar_planets#p009fq0b)
Continue reading the main story (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20770103#story_continues_1)
From the BBC News Today:Posted for education and discussion purposes.
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/64836000/jpg/_64836461_64827555.jpg An artist's impression shows the five-planet system; from there, our Sun appears in the constellation Bootes
The nearest single Sun-like star to the Earth hosts five planets - one of which is in the "habitable zone" where liquid water can exist, astronomers say.
Tau Ceti's planetary quintet - reported in an online paper (http://star-www.herts.ac.uk/%7Ehraj/tauceti/paper.pdf) that will appear in Astronomy and Astrophysics - was found in existing planet-hunting data.
The study's refined methods of sifting through data should help find even more far-flung worlds.
The star now joins Alpha Centauri as a nearby star known to host planets (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19959531).
In both those cases, the planets were found not by spying them through a telescope but rather by measuring the subtle effects they have on their host stars' light.
Continue reading the main story (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20770103#story_continues_2) Exoplanets http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/63525000/jpg/_63525710_exoplanetfactbox.jpg
An exoplanet is a planet that exists outside our Solar System
Most are giant planets believed to resemble Jupiter or Neptune
The first exoplanet was discovered in 1992, orbiting a pulsar (http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/universe/sights/pulsars)
A few years later, the planet 51 Pegasi B (http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/universe/key_places/51_pegasi) was found orbiting a star similar to the Sun
Hundreds of extrasolar planets have been found since
Watch planet hunters search for exoplanets (http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/universe/sights/extrasolar_planets#p009fq0b)
Continue reading the main story (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20770103#story_continues_1)
From the BBC News Today:Posted for education and discussion purposes.