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extrasolar planet |
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extrasolar planetalso called exoplanetPlanet that orbits a star other than the Sun. The existence of extrasolar planets, many light-years from Earth, was confirmed in 1992 with the detection of three bodies circling a pulsar. The first planet revolving around a more sunlike star, 51 Pegasi, was reported in 1995. Over 200 stars with one or more planets are known. Current detection methods, based on the planets' gravitational effects on the stars they orbit, have revealed only planets much more massive than Earth; some are several times the size of Jupiter. A number of them have highly elliptical orbits, and many are closer to their stars than Mercury is to the Sun. These findings have raised questions regarding astronomers' ideas of how Earth's solar system formed and how typical it is. extrasolar planet [¦ek·strə¦sō·lər ′plan·ət] (astronomy) A planet in orbit about a star other than the sun. Also known as exoplanet. How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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Among the 50 or so stars where extra-solar planets have been detected, astronomers have reported only one with more than a single planet (SN: 4/17/99, p. ``The extraordinary discovery'' of these planets ``has completely transformed the field of extra-solar planet detection,'' said Alan Boss, an astrophysicist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington. The two newly discovered extra-solar planets, considerably larger than Jupiter, accompany the stars 70 Virginis, in the constellation Virgo, and 47 Ursae Majoris, in the Big Dipper, or Ursa Major. |
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