Another rocky planet found

[Brandonv]

First Solid Evidence for a Rocky Exoplanet (Physorg.com)

It is a lot more massive than Earth though, and with an orbital raidus of 0.0167 AU, it makes Mustafar look tame by comparison. I think it is funny that the headline on Yahoo news earlier today called it another Earth.

I find it weird that we keep finding planets that orbit ridiculously close to their star. Is it just because those planets are the easiest to detect with current technology, or is our solar system an exception to the norm?

I think there may be a mistake in the Physorg article. They say that it is the smallest exoplanet found, but I thought the smallest was one of the pulsar planets orbiting PSR B1257+12 (Wikipedia).

 

[Brent]

This is so cool, and I'm glad they are finding planets left and right now, however, I really wish we could see them, like a real photographed image of them, of the planet and the surface One day I guess

 

[urbandk]

I imagine with such a low mass, proximity to their star helps detect them. Also, every planet discovered has been larger than Earth, AFAIK. Instrument sensitivity might have to increase to start detecting more planets the size of Earth. I imagine Earth-sized planets probably aren't uncommon; we just don't have the tools to find them yet.

 

[Hyperspace05]

I find it weird that we keep finding planets that orbit ridiculously close to their star. Is it just because those planets are the easiest to detect with current technology, or is our solar system an exception to the norm?

You are correct in your first guess. Most planet finding techniques involve finding cases where planets either pass in front of the star or shift the orbit of the star. Super-massive planets or planets orbiting real close a star are the easiest to find, as earth-like planets in earth-like orbits do not affect its star enough.

 

[Irishman]

Does the article say how far this planet is?

 

[Christopher]

^About 500 light-years.