The Search for Extraterrestrials Narrows
0 Comments - 29 Apr 2010
A large number of experts participated recently at the Astrobiology Science Conference, which was held near Houston, Texas. At the meeting, scientists and NASA representatives spoke about the challenges still ahead in discovering forms of life on...

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NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope Discovers Extrasolar Planet Lacking Methane
0 Comments - 21 Apr 2010
PASADENA, Calif. - NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered something odd about a distant planet -- it lacks methane, an ingredient common to many of the planets in our solar system. "It's a big puzzle," said Kevin Stevenson, a planetary s...

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Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Planet - 55 Cancri


55 Cancri, orbited by five known exoplanets, possesses the most complete planetary system known today around a star other than the Sun. With at least five planets in orbit, 55 Cancri is home to more known exoplanets than any other star. What is more, the planets' orbital arrangement is broadly reminiscent of our own solar system.

The largest of the planets is a gas giant about four times the mass of Jupiter, orbiting the star at a distance of about 6 astronomical units (AU), compared to Jupiter's 5.2 AU. The four smaller planets orbit within 0.8 astronomical units of the star, reminiscent of the four planets of the inner solar system, all of which orbit within 1.5 AU from the Sun. Even so, however, all the planets around 55 Cancri are gas giants, and even the smallest of them is 14 times the mass of the Earth.

The most intriguing of planets around 55 Cancri is a Saturn-sized gas giant, orbiting at 0.79 AU from its star and completing each revolution in just under 261 days. This places it near 55 Cancri's "habitable zone," the narrow band of space where water can remain in a liquid state. While this is not relevant to a gas giant, it is nevertheless possible that the planet possesses rocky moon, just like Jupiter and Saturn in our solar system. Such a moon, scientists speculate, could potentially have pools of liquid water on its surface. And where there is water, there could also be life.



Links:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/55_Cancri

http://www.astro.illinois.edu/~kaler/sow/55cnc.html

http://www.solstation.com/stars2/55cnc2.htm