What's especially remarkable is that these planets were found in the first, I think, 43 days of observation. That means many many more probably were found later. The longer a star is studied, the more time for its wobbles to indicate a planet with a longer orbital period. So the early ones would be close to the star, where the period is shorter, and the later ones farther out, maybe in the habitable zone. What a wonderful time of discovery this is! -- Jay, thanks for posting -- Joe ________________________________ From: JayLEads <jayleads@gmail.com> To: Utah-Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Mon, January 4, 2010 11:51:40 PM Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Kepler Announces 1st 5 Planets Found I thought this was both interesting and news worthy for those who haven't seen it. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/news/kepler-5-exoplanets.html They are basically hot Jupiters ranging in size from Neptune to larger than Jupiter. Orbits are 3.3 to 4.9 days. I have family in the SF Bay Area so I tend to follow up on some of the papers down there, one being the San Jose Mercury News. Here was there article on the announcement: http://www.mercurynews.com/top-stories/ci_14120023 Not mentioned at the NASA site but in the paper is this quote: "and include one with a density as light as Styrofoam. They orbit so close to their stars that they may glow with the heat of a blast furnace. One searing world, Kepler 8b, burns at more than 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit, hotter than the melting point of iron." Styrofoam, interesting. Other interesting points . . . Scientists had thought there were two distinct types of planets — terrestrials and gas giants like Jupiter. The new Kepler data, Jenkins said, hints that intermediate size planets such as "Neptune and Uranus form in a different fashion than Jupiters and Saturns. There are finer distinctions in how these planets form." The probe also had reassuring news Monday for those who worry about the future of the source of all life on Earth — the sun. The spacecraft's observations show that a majority of the roughly 43,000 sun-like, G-class stars that Kepler observed are as stable as or more stable than the sun. And that I guess is good news as they search for Earth like planets in the habitable zone._______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com