Gold mine of an exoplanet: Corot-9b

William Atkins
Tuesday, 23 March 2010 00:50

Science - Space

Astronomers are studying a planet called Corot-9b, which is about 1,500 light years from Earth, that they say will be studied in great detail because it is very similar to our planets in the Solar System. They think it might be reveal a "gold mine" of information.

 

 

Corot-9b, a newly discovered planet, is a relatively cool exosolar planet (exoplanet)--a planet that orbits about a star other than our Sun.

One of the things that makes it special is that it has a climate that is similar to Earth's climate.

The temperature on the planet ranges from between 314 degrees Fahrenheit (157 degrees Celsius, or 430 kelvin) and -10 degrees Fahrenheit (-23 degrees Celsius, or 250 kelvin).

And, the exoplanet has a size similar to the planet Jupiter (about 84% the mass of Jupiter, the largest planet in our Solar System).

Further, it orbits its parent star at a distance similar to the planet Mercury (about 0.36 astronomical unit [AU] or about 53.8 million kilometers, 33.5 million miles), the closest planet to the Sun in our Solar System.

The exoplanet was discovered, on March 17, 2010, by the space probe COROT (short for COnvection ROtation and planetary Transits). Further information on the discovery is found in the University of Oxford article "Cool Jupiter exoplanet found."

COROT was launched by the French Space Agency (CNES), the European Space Agency (ESA), the German Aerospace Center (DLR), and other international partners.

Page two continues with more about the Corot-9b exoplanet.