Planet-hunting telescope unearths hot mysteries (New space objects found!)

Yahoo News ^ | 1-4-10 | SETH BORENSTEIN

[saintedphysician]

NASA's new planet-hunting telescope has found two mystery objects that are too hot to be planets and too small to be stars.

The Kepler Telescope, launched in March, discovered the two new heavenly bodies, each circling its own star. Telescope chief scientist Bill Borucki of NASA said the objects are thousands of degrees hotter than the stars they circle. That means they probably aren't planets. They are bigger and hotter than planets in our solar system, including dwarf planets.

"The universe keeps making strange things stranger than we can think of in our imagination," said Jon Morse, head of astrophysics for NASA.

The new discoveries don't quite fit into any definition of known astronomical objects, and so far don't have a classification of their own. Details

[saintedphysician]

"For now, NASA researcher Jason Rowe, who found the objects, said he calls them "hot companions."

[cripplecreek]

Not brown dwarfs?

[driftdiver]

AGW perhaps?

[Dallas59]

We won’t really know until we go there.

[ImProudToBeAnAmerican]

That thar’s a Space Burrito!

[ImProudToBeAnAmerican]

That thar’s a Space Burrito!

[Perdogg]

They were talking about this on the John Bachelor show Thursday night. There may be planets as close as 4.3 ly that could sustain life because of the high probability of water vapor.

[SengirV]

It appears that the only difference they can detect between the two at this point is in temperature.

[null and void]

AFAIK Water suffices.

[SlowBoat407]

"For now, NASA researcher Jason Rowe, who found the objects, said he calls them "hot companions."

I believe the stars are paying them by the hour.

[Oberon]

For now, NASA researcher Jason Rowe, who found the objects, said he calls them "hot companions."

[silverleaf]

“For now, NASA researcher Jason Rowe, who found the objects, said he calls them “hot companions”

Tiger Woods says he’d hit it

[stormer]

[Dead Corpse]

Just eating the planets we refuse to eat...

[Beowulf9]

One of the newly discovered planets is so airy that “it has the density of Styrofoam,” Borucki said.

“There’s going to be all kinds of weird stuff out there,” said Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institute of Washington, who wasn’t part of the research. “This is an unparalleled data set. The universe really is a weird place. It’s fantastic.”

Boy, THAT’S an interesting planet!

[Dead Corpse]

Don’t let my dog near it. She got a hold of some of the Styrofoam packing from my kids Christmas presents. What a mess...

[Snickering Hound]

[dangus]

>> How hot? Try 26,000 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s hot enough to melt lead or iron. <<

That’s an understatement!

[dangus]

As vacuous as space itself!

[pappyone]

“They are bigger and hotter than planets in our solar system, including dwarf planets.”

Huh?