Closest Rocky Exoplanet Discovered
Closest Rocky Exoplanet Discovered
By: Monica Young | August 3, 2015
Super-Earth HD 219134b is just 21 light-years away, orbiting a nearby orange star that you can see from your backyard.
If Cassiopeia in her celestial seat were to raise her head from her looking glass, she would see HD 219134, a 5th-magnitude, orange, K-type star 21 light-years from Earth. And if she peered closely, Cassiopeia might make out the system of four planets orbiting this nearby star.
Of course, Cassiopeia is mythical and doesn’t see a thing, but Fatemeh Motalebi (University of Geneva, Switzerland) and colleagues do. Using the ESO 3.6-meter telescope in the Canary Islands and the Spitzer Space Telescope, the astronomers discovered the signature of a transiting rocky planet. The planet itself is never seen, but its crossing briefly dims the star by a minuscule amount that was first detected as part of the HARPS-N survey, then confirmed in Spitzer follow-up observations.
Two additional super-Earths and a giant planet haven’t transited (yet), but Spitzer revealed their presence by the gravitational tugs they exert on their parent star.
- See more at: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/closest-rocky-planet-discovered-080320153/#sthash.aoJn2UUp.dpuf
= new reply since forum marked as read
