... double stars a capital B would be used for the second star, so names could get confusing. So why not name the planets? Lyra gives a couple of reasons why he thinks this would be a good idea. One is ... if you haven’t come across that word before. For the vast majority of the extrasolar planets their existence will only be noted by astronomers, much like stars and galaxies today. While names ...

... help scientists understand how planetary systems form usually overlooked the chemistry of planets, at least until now. A new study has looked for the first time at the dynamics and chemistry of how Earth-like ... Tucson, Arizona, and colleagues. The software figured out the starting chemistry of different planets by calculating equilibrium condensation temperatures within the primordial cloud of gas ...

... on the good track to detect (indirectly) Earth-type planets within the next five to 10 years,” Udry says. Using the European Southern Observatory&# ... hunting, he adds. The team announced the newly discovered planets at a science meeting in Porto, Portugal. They range in size ... the “Super-Earths” — thought to be rocky planets like Earth and not gas giants — orbit stars like our ...

... number of "extra-solar" planets discovered over four hundred. The spacecraft used for the exo-planet ... massive than Earth - based on their residual motions. Most planets discovered so far, to be sure, have been Jupiter-sized or larger, meaning ... quot;I'm pretty confident that Earth -like planets are everywhere". The question remains, of course, as to how close any of these Earth ...

... in Portugal, increase to more than 400 the number of known extrasolar planets, or “exoplanets.” The 32 previously ... times the mass of Jupiter, scientists said. In addition, the new planets were found around different types of stars, challenging existing ... 60 percent of all planetary systems in the universe contain low-mass planets. Since lower masses most likely mean Earthlike sizes, ...

European astronomers announced they had found 32 new planets orbiting stars outside our solar system and said on Monday they ... in La Silla, Chile. The spectrograph does not image the planets directly but scientists can calculate their size and mass by ... small gravitational pull. Astronomers are keen to find Earthlike planets as these are the most likely to harbor life. HARPS has spotted 75 planets ...