2011 was a bully yr in the search for exoplanets , and it looks like 2012 is determine up to be pretty fruitful , as well . Yesterday morning , just four days into the new yr , astronomers announced the discovery of four massive new alien worlds , each one orbiting a star of its own .
And here ’s something else that bodes well for exoplanet - hunt in the yr ahead : these new planets were discovered not byNASA ’s hugely successful Kepler space scope , but by the Hungarian - made Automated Telescope internet ( HATNet ) Project — a set of six , wide - field telescopes based at two observatories right here on Earth . Remember : in a petty less than 3 class , the Kepler military mission has quadrupled the routine of worlds know to exist beyond our solar system ; comparative to findings made by Kepler , Earth - based discoveries like the one announced yesterday are actually middling rare .
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-confirms-discovery-of-the-most-earth-like-planet-y-5865107
The four newfangled planets — dub HAT - P-34b , HAT - P-35b , HAT - P-36b and HAT - P-37b — are all what astronomers cite to as “ hot Jupiters . ” As their name suggests , blistering Jupiters are gas giants that are typically at least as massive as the Jupiter in our own solar organisation , with one fundamental difference : spicy Jupiters revolve their parent stars at a much closer distance , hence “ hot ” Jupiter . ( Another name for a red-hot Jupiter is “ roaster major planet ” ) .
Details of the discovery have been posted toarXiv .
[ arXivviaDiscovery News ]
Artist ’s delineation of a hot Jupiter via NASA
AstronomySpace
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