Rocky Planet Found Outside Solar SystemSource: The Associated Press
Posted: 09/16/09 9:07AM
Filed Under: Science & Tech
WASHINGTON (AP) - Astronomers have finally found a place outside our solar system where there's a firm place to stand — if only it weren't so broiling hot.

As scientists search the skies for life elsewhere, they have found more than 300 planets outside our solar system. But they all have been gas balls or can't be proven to be solid. Now a team of European astronomers has confirmed the first rocky extrasolar planet.

European astronomers confirmed the first rocky extrasolar planet Wednesday. According to scientists the planet is so close to it's sun that its surface temperature is more than 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit, too toasty to sustain life. It circles its star in just 20 hours, zipping around at 466,000 mph. By comparison, Mercury, the planet nearest our sun, completes its solar orbit in 88 days.

Scientists have long figured that if life begins on a planet, it needs a solid surface to rest on, so finding one elsewhere is a big deal.

"We basically live on a rock ourselves," said co-discoverer Artie Hatzes, director of the Thuringer observatory in Germany. "It's as close to something like the Earth that we've found so far. It's just a little too close to its sun."

So close that its surface temperature is more than 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit, too toasty to sustain life. It circles its star in just 20 hours, zipping around at 466,000 mph. By comparison, Mercury, the planet nearest our sun, completes its solar orbit in 88 days.

"It's hot, they're calling it the lava planet," Hatzes said.

This is a major discovery in the field of trying to find life elsewhere in the universe, said outside expert Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution. It was the buzz of a conference on finding an Earth-like planet outside our solar system, held in Barcelona, Spain, where the discovery was presented Wednesday morning. The find is also being published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

The planet is called Corot-7b. It was first discovered earlier this year. European scientists then watched it dozens of times to measure its density to prove that it is rocky like Earth. It's in our general neighborhood, circling a star in the winter sky abou
t 500 light-years away. Each light-year is about 6 trillion miles.
Four planets in our solar system are rocky: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars

In addition, the planet is about as close to Earth in size as any other planet found outside our solar system. Its radius is only one-and-a-half times bigger than Earth's and it has a mass about five times the Earth's.

Now that another rocky planet has been found so close to its own star, it gives scientists more confidence that they'll find more Earth-like planets farther away, where the conditions could be more favorable to life, Boss said.

"The evidence is becoming overwhelming that we live in a crowded universe," Boss said



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Thank you for the post Sue.

This is quite an amazing discovery.
Who knows what else we will find soon?

I was able to get an image of Corot 7b

Thank you for sharing this interesting information Sue.

yoko
~~~~~

There is more on this topic at

http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEM7G6XPXPF_index_0.html

"This discovery is a very important step on the road to understanding the formation and evolution of our planet," said Malcolm Fridlund, ESA’s COROT Project Scientist. “For the first time, we have unambiguously detected a planet that is 'rocky' in the same sense as our own Earth. We now have to understand this object further to put it into context, and continue our search for smaller, more Earth-like objects with COROT," he added.

Thank you for the post Sue.
Who knows what else we will find out there someday?

Sincerely,
Gisele

Thank you for sharing this news Sue.

I feel like Gisele, who knows what we will find in the Universe some day. There may be life that can tolerate much higher and lower temperatures than humans, and the same goes for the atmosphere. Life may differ from that on Earth.

Love,
Vicky

Thank you girls,
and thank you for the image Inda.



Who knows what else we will find, and you are right, there may be life-forms that can tolerate much different temperatures and atmospheres than Earth beings.

Sue
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As scientists search the skies for life elsewhere, they have found more than 300 planets outside our solar system. But they all have been gas balls or can't be proven to be solid. Now a team of European astronomers has confirmed the first rocky extrasolar planet.
Scientists have long figured that if life begins on a planet, it needs a solid surface to rest on, so finding one elsewhere is a big deal.
"We basically live on a rock ourselves," said co-discoverer Artie Hartzes, director of the Thuringer observatory in Germany. "It's as close to something like the Earth that we've found so far. It's just a little too close to its sun."
So close that its surface temperature is more than 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit, too toasty to sustain life. It circles its star in just 20 hours, zipping around at 466,000 mph. By comparison, Mercury, the planet nearest our sun, completes its solar orbit in 88 days.
"It's hot, they're calling it the lava planet," Hartzes said.

http://news.aol.com/article/la...orot-7b-found/672139

I do love this information. Thank you for sharing it!

According to Isaac Asimov, he estimated - already many years ago - that there are approximately 625 planets in different solar systems within our Milky Way Galaxy, which might (MIGHT) have similar atmosphere and general conditions as our blue planet Earth ... It's all so fascinating.

But of course the distances are incredible, but I am positive that one day we shall be able even to go faster than light speed. Who can ever know how big scientific discoveries will be? Let's not doubt that certain things that seem impossible within the known laws of physics, can still develop into POSSIBLE one day ...

Love,
Margherita

Thank you Margherita.

Who knows what all is out there and what we will be able to find someday.

We may be able to beam ourselves up to infinity.

Love,
Sue