11 New Planets Discovered
(From the July/August 2001 issue of StarDate magazine)
Astronomers from Switzerland, France, the U.S., and Israel say they have found 11 new planets outside of our solar system, several with interesting characteristics. The scientists speculate that two planets orbit the star HD 82943 “in resonance” — that is, the orbital period of one planet is almost exactly twice as long as the orbital period of the other. They also report the most elongated orbit yet seen. The planet orbiting HD 80606 ranges from 8 million to 203 million miles from that star. Finally, these scientists report a giant companion body orbiting the Sun-like star HD 28185 every 385 days in the “habitable zone” — where temperatures would be similar to Earth’s. At three and a half times larger than Jupiter, the companion might be a giant planet or a brown dwarf. Either way, it probably doesn’t harbor life. But if it is a planet, it might have moons that could. Rebecca Johnson
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