Worlds such as this were not thought possible to exist. The enormous gravitational force of such a massive body would accrete a gas envelope during formation, ballooning the planet to a gas giant the size of Neptune or even Jupiter. However, this planet is thought to be solid, composed primarily of rock. Just when you think youve got it all figured out, nature gives you a huge surprise – in this case, literally, said Natalie Batalha, Kepler mission scientist at NASAs Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. Isnt science marvelous? Kepler-10c orbits a sun-like star every 45 days, making it too hot to sustain life as we know it. It is located about 560 light-years from Earth in the constellation Draco. The system also hosts Kepler-10b, the first rocky planet discovered in the Kepler data. The finding was presented today at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Boston. Read more about the discovery in the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics press release.
Posted on: Wed, 04 Jun 2014 05:03:14 +0000
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