Scientists discover planet orbiting star

LOS ANGELES - A new planet was discovered orbiting a sun-like star 41 light years away, making it the first known planetary quintet outside our solar system, astronomers said Tuesday.

The newfound planet joins four others circling the nearby star 55 Cancri in the constellation Cancer. Although it resides in the star's so-called habitable zone, a place where liquid water and mild temperatures should exist, it is more like Saturn than Earth and therefore not likely to support life.

Still, scientists have not ruled out the possibility of finding an Earth-like planet within the system as technology improves.

"It's a system that appears to be packed with planets," said co-discoverer Debra Fischer, an astronomer at San Francisco State University.

Ranked fourth from 55 Cancri, the latest planet is about 45 times the mass of Earth and has an orbit of 260 days. It was detected after nearly two decades of observations by ground-based telescopes using the Doppler technique that measures a planet's stellar wobble.

The other planets in the 55 Cancri system were discovered between 1996 and 2004. The innermost planet is believed to resemble Neptune, while the most distant is thought to be Jupiter-like.

Scientists have detected about 250 exoplanets, or planets orbiting a star other than the sun. The 55 Cancri star holds the record for number of confirmed planets. Only one other star is known to have four planets, while several others have three or less.

"We can now say there are stars like the sun that have many worlds around them," said planetary scientist Jonathan Lunine of the University of Arizona, Tucson, who had no role in the discovery.

The research will appear in a future issue of the Astrophysical Journal. It was funded by NASA, the National Science Foundation and the University of California.

The latest discovery shows that our solar system is not unique, scientists said.

"When you look up into the night sky and see the twinkling lights of stars, you can imagine with certainty that they have their own complement of planets," said astronomer Geoff Marcy of the University of California, Berkeley, who was part of the research.

NASA: http://www.nasa.gov
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071106/ap_on_sc/planetary_system

 

Cool find. Looks like we're not alone in the universe.

 

i already knew that, humans are there too

 

yeah duh

 

honestly I wouldn't be surprised... they just don't know their place.
My favourite part is this one:
"said planetary scientist Jonathan Lunine of the University of Arizona, Tucson, who had no role in the discovery."
;D

 

yeah there thinking who the hell are you, you didn't help in the discovery so why are you talking

 

Awesome find, but are we sure we are not alone?

 

I'm sure were not alone there are trillions upon trillions of planets, and billions upon billions of stars just in this galaxy and there are a lot of galaxies as well with all this there is bound to be something else out there

 

This news is kinda old. And there are definately other planets in the universe.

 

great find man!! i really love learning about our galaxy and space =P.

i believe, that when we look upon a star, the other living forms in the other galaxies are looking upon our star...the sun!
i think there is other lifeforms than us =P

 

Thanks! I'm a big fan of Megaman too.

 

it just seems obvious

 

I watched an interview of the lead scientist, and what they've discovered is another planet.... within the habitable belt.

Tell me something I don't know. Now let's invest some money in actually determining the chemical makeup and factors on the planet. Let's stop sitting around looking and go explore!

He was asked repeatedly how similar the planet is to Earth and he just dodged the question, which made me a little skeptical of the discovery. We've known the star system and planets have been there for a while, it's not a new discovery. What was discovered was a planet within what is called the "habitable belt" which is the definition of space between a planet and its star that defines it as having temperatures favorable for life to form on it.

 

There are more known planets than stars, so why make planets go 1000:1 on stars

No it isn't, it was on yesterday, it even made news here in Brazil.

It was also said this planet was a gas-like giant just like Jupiter, and has 45 times the mass on the Earth (very small compared to other found planets.)

Scientist have still not found rock-like planets outside our solar system, and have fouond over 50 planets that are gas giants.

Odds are still against having a "nearby" source of life.

But who knows right?

 

life doesn't necessarily have to develop on a planet what if this planet they found had rock like moons then life could possibly develop on it if these life forms could live through long periods of darkness considering its a moon

 

what do you mean long periods, our moon has only 4 minutes more in a day

 

Yes but it's rotation is much slower than the Earth's. That's why its gravity is so much weaker.

 

well, lifeforms dont even need light to live, theres a whole ecosystem at the bottem of the ocean that lives off of methan. there are others in some caves( i cant remember where sorry) that live off of sulfur or a compound that had sulfur in it.

 

You guys should read something about life the way we understand it...

Life needs water, water makes plants, which need light, which gives food and make more plants.

You probably will say: "just because Earth beings need those, doesn't mean other living beings will".

If you aren't wrong, then that is EXTREMELY unlikely because the conditions for life are about Earths. If Earth was a bit closer to the Sun, there wouldn't be life, or a bit further there wouldn't be life. This info I have read on physics books (by Michio Kaku).

You all have an idea of a carapaced thin being that eats rocks and breathes hidrogen to survive. This isn't how it works. (very unlikely)

I just can't wait for all those sci-fi believers to start contradicting me, because I have a book that has so many arguments, and the information is extremely credible.

The kind of life form one should expect are being not so different from the animals here on earth. If their planets gravity is slightly larger they will probably be smaller beings, if it is slightly hotter they will have thinner skin, etc. But most likely close to us.

 

Oh yes 55 Cancri.... I did a presentation on this system in grade 6... highly interesting.... however i must note that this new planet (55 cancri f) is only the latest discovery in one of the most interesting extrasolar star systems to exist! Hopefully as better planet finding methoeds are made we can see if there are any moons orbiting F to allow for water in a stable form to exist on its surface (F is in the "green" zone after all)

note: 55 cancri F is a gas giant and itself possibly unable to support any life (since it most likely is made up of hydrogen like jupiter and saturn)

For further reading:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2007-128
http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/atlas/atlas_index.cfm (interactive "NEW WORLDS ATLAS")

True but most likely only similar in there basic functions (need for water, oxygen, etc) they would most likely have a much, MUCH
different appearence and (assuming we ever find alien life) would be very interesting to study.