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Astronomers Discover 60 New Planets Including 'Super Earth' (nypost.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the new-discoveries dept.

schwit1 quotes a report from New York Post: An international team of astronomers has found 60 new planets orbiting stars close to Earth's solar system, including a rocky "super Earth." The experts also found evidence of an additional 54 planets, bringing the potential discovery of new worlds to 114. One planet in particular, Gliese 411b, has been generating plenty of attention. Described as a "hot super Earth with a rocky surface," Gliese 411b is located in the fourth-nearest star system to the Sun, making it the third-nearest planetary system to the Sun, according to the U.K.'s University of Hertfordshire, which participated in the research. Gliese 411b (also known as GJ 411b or Lalande 21185) orbits the star Gliese 411 (or GJ 411). Despite the "super Earth" label, Dr. Mikko Tuomi from University of Hertfordshire's Centre for Astrophysics told Fox News that Gliese 411b is too hot for life to exist on its surface. The 60 new planets are found orbiting stars that are mostly some 20 to 300 light years away, according to Tuomi. The discoveries are based on observations taken over 20 years by U.S. astronomers using the Keck-I telescope in Hawaii as part of the Lick-Carnegie Exoplanet Survey. During the course of the research, scientists obtained almost 61,000 observations of 1,600 stars, which are now available to the public.

10 of 38 comments (clear)

  1. 10^11^2 by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 2

    Provided that the Universe has at least 100 bn galaxies which have an estimated average of 100 bn of stars each, that's 10^22 stars. We will not run out of planets anytime soon.

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  2. Planet hunters by wolfheart111 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    During the course of the research, scientists obtained almost 61,000 observations of 1,600 stars, which are now available to the public. Have a go at it. https://www.planethunters.org/ Ready to discover new worlds?

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    [($)]
    1. Re:Planet hunters by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Only now are our detection methods getting refined enough to see Earthlike worlds. We have been amazed by the number of large planets we have been seeing everywhere we look. Now prepare to be amazed by the proliferation of Earthlike planets.

  3. Re: I love Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    With all due respect then why even come here let alone bother to leave a comment. Since I don't bother going to a ton of websites everyday this article regardless of how many days ago it was posted is still interesting.

    I find such comments petty and a bit middle school in nature.

  4. Re: My #1 science goto... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Here's any idea for a nice change of pace, take your political comments and go somewhere else. This is a science article.

  5. So, does this super earth... by Z80a · · Score: 2

    Is like earth, but better on every sense? like having a super sundae instead of regular sundaes or a super intel that runs their processors at 20 Ghz because they use the super silicon?
    And most importantly, do they name everything super (something)?

    1. Re:So, does this super earth... by Ihlosi · · Score: 2
      Is like earth, but better on every sense?

      It's certainly bigger than Earth.

      And most importantly, do they name everything super (something)?

      Of course not. To them, their planet is normal Earth, and they call our planet sub-Earth. Or dwarf Earth.

    2. Re:So, does this super earth... by Curunir_wolf · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The only way it's "like earth" is that it's a planet. It's way hotter than earth, much larger (thus the "super" adjective), closer to its star, etc. These astronomers really have an extremely wide brush they use when calling a planet "earth like". Oh, and guess what - the star it was orbiting is "sun-like". Sounds great! When can we go?

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  6. Re: I love Slashdot by rmdingler · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Indeed, and though an interesting story about space exploration or scientific innovation won't garner the comment count of an, er, insightful political discussion, there are still some nerds who actually prefer this genre.

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    Ernest Hemingway

  7. Re:I love Slashdot by Baron_Yam · · Score: 2

    It used to be that comments here were 'smarter' on average, but that's long since gone. Now the user base is just as ignorant and childish on average as everywhere else... but still slightly less toxic than other sites.

    That's why I am here, anyway. I don't need or want a site tailored to encourage group think or hate posting because those things tend to keep eyeballs near the ads longer.

    Catching day-old reposts and dealing with a clunky posting and comment system is an acceptable price to pay.