A Sun-like star with orbiting planets, dating back to the dawn of the galaxy, has been discovered by an international team of astronomers. At 11.2 billion years old it is the oldest star with Earth-size planets ever found and proves that such planets have formed throughout the history of the universe. The discovery, announced on 27 January in the Astrophysical Journal, used observations made by NASA’s Kepler satellite. The scientific collaboration was led by the University of Birmingham and contributed to by the University of Sydney. The star, named Kepler-444, hosts five planets smaller than Earth, with sizes varying between those of Mercury and Venus -- press release from the University of Sydney. The link to is to the paper itself.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 15:49:23 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015