Posted on 05/24/2006 7:43:15 PM PDT by KevinDavis
Three years of scouring the skies with a "homemade" telescope fashioned from commercially available parts has finally paid off for astronomer Peter McCullough.
First came the observation of the brief but telltale dimming of a sun-like star 600 light-years away, then the detection of the star's wobble indicative of an orbiting planet's presence.
Finally, McCullough's international team of professional and amateur astronomers received the official word that they had discovered a Jupiter-sized planet.
"Of the planets that pass in front of their stars, XO-1b is the most similar to Jupiter yet known, and the star XO-1 is the most similar to our Sun," said McCullough, of the Space Telescope Science Institute. "But XO-1b is much, much closer to its star than Jupiter is to the Sun."
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
very ineteresting, now if I could only talk my wife into moving to that secluded mountaintop.
The problem with this technique is you can't see subtle motions caused by planets that are small or far away from their star. Of course they are going to keep finding huge planets close in : that's all you can detect!
True enough, but the Jovian planets might have Terran-size sattelites.
The ameteur astronomers can provide key targeting data for the big 'scopes so as to not waste time scouring the heavens.
Must...resist...temptation...to...ask...about...Uranus!!
OK wiseguy- you asked for it...
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Nooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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spaceref.com | 3 Jul 03 | staff
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/939950/posts
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1634225/posts
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1565075/posts
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2701977.stm
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/831235/posts
Plenty of Earths await discovery
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1377840/posts
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1481572/posts
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ap on Monterey Herald | 10/1/05 | Alicia Chang - ap
Posted on 10/01/2005 8:10:46 PM EDT by NormsRevenge
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1495009/posts
Scientists find possible birth of tiniest known solar system
spaceflightnow.com | 30 Nov 05 | Penn State
Posted on 11/30/2005 4:28:43 PM EST by RightWhale
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1531497/posts
Solar system similar to ours discovered: US astronomers
Yahoo! News via Drudge | June 13, 2002 | Yahoo! News staff
Posted on 06/13/2002 7:17:37 PM EDT by Exit 109
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/699740/posts
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