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VIRTUALISATION Swiss planet finders find smallest one so far
VIRTUALISATION Swiss planet finders find smallest one so far | Swiss planet finders find smallest one so far |
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| by William Atkins | |
| Wednesday, 22 April 2009 | |
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Swiss astronomer Michel Mayor, of the Department of Astronomy at the University of Geneva at Sauyerny, Switzerland, led the team in the discovery of this tiny extrasolar planet (or exoplanet), which is only about 20.3 light-years from our Solar System. The Geneva Extrasolar Planet Search Programme, of which the astronomers are associated, is part of the Geneva Observatory. This planet is orbiting about the star Gliese 581, within the constellation Libra (“The Scales”). The star, with a spectral type of M3V (M = red; 3 (or III) = giant; V = emission line), has a mass about one-third that of our Sun. It is the 87th known star system to our Solar System. The newly discovered Gliese 581 e is one of four planets known to orbit about the star Gliese 581. It has an orbital period of about 3.15 Earth-days—making it the closest planet to its star yet discovered. The astronomers found planet 581 e with the use of a very sensitive spectrograph, called HARPS (High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher), attached to the European Southern Observatory, a 3.6-meter telescope located in La Silla, Chile. HARPS is considered the most successful identifier of low-mass exoplanets, such as those in the Gliese system. Page two continues with more information about this newly discovered planet. |
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