|
|
Article: Other worlds. (discovering new planets)
- Article from:
- Popular Science
- Article date:
- September 1, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Bonnier Corporation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
A baker's dozen of recently discovered planets are revealing just how little we know about our own solar system.
Compared with our terrestrial home, the newly discovered planet around a star called Gliese 876 is gigantic - with a mass some 500 times that of Earth. A year passes in just 61 days as the world races in an unusual, oblong path around its dull red dwarf star. The world orbits its star closer than does sun-blasted Mercury, our system's innermost planet. But its surface, likely gaseous, is bitterly cold by Earth standards - perhaps minus 75 [degrees] C. Warmer layers beneath might permit some compounds, such as water, to exist as liquids, but only in tiny ...