Tuesday, January 5, 2010

NASA Announces Five New Planets


The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) confirmed that five new planets were discovered orbiting distant stars Monday, January 4.five-new-planets

The planets, categorized as exoplanets – planets outside our solar system – are described as “hot Jupiters”. That is, they all have the size of Jupiter with temperatures that could turn gold into goo. Their temperatures range from 2000 to 3000 degrees Fahrenheit (1090 – 1650 degrees Celsius). They orbit their respective stars at a rate of 3 to 5 days.

As their discoveries were done by the Kepler Space Telescope Mission, they have been given the names Kepler 4b, Kepler 5b, Kepler 6b, Kepler 7b and Kepler 8b. The mission was launched March 2009 to discover Earth-like planets orbiting other stars. It has discovered hundreds of possible planet signatures already. In a way, it is trying to solve the mystery of whether we are alone in the universe.

With the temperature estimated from the five new planets, chances are there are no life forms there. Kepler Mission has a three-year commission to look for answers.

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