PDA

View Full Version : Smallest Extrasolar Planet Revealed By Microlensing



Light Eye
01-25-2006, 11:29 AM
dear friends,

more info concerning jan's posting.

http://www.newscientistspace.com/article/dn8633

be well, be love.

david

smallest extrasolar planet revealed by microlensing

astronomers have found an extrasolar planet that may be just 5.5
times as massive as the earth ? that would make it the smallest
exoplanet ever detected around a normal star.

it orbits a common red dwarf star, 22,000 light years from the sun,
and was found using a technique called gravitational microlensing.

the planet is too far from its host star - and therefore too cold -
to harbour life as we know it, but the new find offers hope that
there are smaller, warmer worlds out there waiting to be found.





[non-text portions of this message have been removed]