Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Astronomers find 50 new exoplanets: Richest haul of planets so far includes 16 new super-Earths

Astronomers find 50 new exoplanets: Richest haul of planets so far includes 16 new super-Earths

ScienceDaily (Sep. 12, 2011) — The HARPS spectrograph on the 3.6-metre telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile is the world's most successful planet finder [1]. The HARPS team, led by Michel Mayor (University of Geneva, Switzerland), have announced the discovery of more than 50 new exoplanets orbiting nearby stars, including sixteen super-Earths [2]. This is the largest number of such planets ever announced at one time [3]. The new findings are being presented at a conference on Extreme Solar Systems where 350 exoplanet experts are meeting in Wyoming, USA.

RED ICE RADIO