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Telescope finds transiting planets around distant stars

Posted Sep 26, 2006 at 08:42AM by KJM Listed in: Astronomy, Space Exploration, Celestial Bodies Tags: Jupiter, Andromeda, Giants
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Hot Jupiter


European scientists announced today the discovery of two Jupiter-sized planets orbiting stars in the constellations of Andromeda and Delphinus.  These are some of the hottest planets ever discovered. Radiation from parent stars is causing them to lose their atmospheres. These were the first planets to be discovered by the U.K.'s SuperWASP (Wide Angle Search for Planets), which uses wide angle camera lenses that can detect variations in starlight caused by planetary transit.  The findings were confirmed by French scientists, working with their own high-powered instruments.

What is unique about this discovery is the fact that SuperWASP's telescopes are capable of looking at millions of stars at a time. Previously, the discovery of extra-solar planets required the painstaking observations of individual stars, using very expensive telescopes.  So far, 200 of these planets outside our own solar system have been found.  SuperWASP consists of a number of smaller telescopes that work with highly sensitive, high-tech cameras that can make observations of broad areas of the sky, capable of generating 60 gigabytes of data in one night.

These most recent discoveries are known as "hot Jupiters" - so-called because they are gas giants that orbit very close to their parent stars.  These discoveries come on the eve of the launching of a new 35-million Euro (about 40 million USD) satellite that will facilitate the observation of extra-solar planets. Between SuperWASP and the COROT Satellite,  discoveries of extra-solar planets should increase substantially, allowing astronomers to better understand planetary formation.

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