MUFONET-BBS GROUP - MUTUAL UFO NETWORK
ASTRONOMY NEWS - WIRE
=START= XMT: 11:33 Thu Jan 09 EXP: 12:00 Thu Jan 16
U.S. SCIENTISTS FIND TWO NEW PLANETS IN MILKY WAY GALAXY
WASHINGTON (JAN. 9) XINHUA - U.S. ASTRONOMERS HAVE FOUND
EVIDENCE OF AT LEAST TWO AND POSSIBLY THREE PLANETS ORBITING
A DENSE STAR IN THE MILKY WAY GALAXY. THEY SAID, IF
CONFIRMED, THE PLANETS WOULD BE THE FIRST KNOWN OUTSIDE THE
SOLAR SYSTEM.
SEVERAL PRIOR STUDIES HAD CLAIMED TO FIND SUCH PLANETS, BUT
SOME OF THOSE STUDIES HAVE BEEN PROVED WRONG OR REMAIN
UNCONFIRMED.
THE NEWLY DISCOVERED SUPPOSED PLANETS ARE IN ORBIT NOT
AROUND A 'NORMAL' STAR LIKE THE SUN BUT A DENSELY PACKED,
DEAD STAR KNOWN AS A PULSAR. PULSARS LEND THEMSELVES TO
MEASUREMENT BY EXISTING EARTH TECHNOLOGY, BUT ASTRONOMERS
SAID THEY WILL NEED MORE CREATIVE TECHNOLOGY TO MAKE SIMILAR
DISCOVERIES INVOLVING ORDINARY STARS.
THE TWO PUTATIVE PLANETS, EACH ABOUT THREE TIMES THE MASS OF
EARTH, ARE CIRCLING A NEWLY DISCOVERED PULSAR LOCATED ABOUT
1,300 LIGHT-YEARS FROM EARTH IN THE PLANE OF THE MILKY WAY.
THE PLANET ON THE INSIDE TRACK APPEARS TO ORBIT THE PULSAR
ONCE EVERY 66.6 DAYS. THE OTHER PLANET ON THE OUTSIDE TRACK
APPEARS TO ORBIT THE PULSAR ONCE EVERY 98.2 DAYS.
RESULTS ALSO SUGGESTED THE POSSIBILITY OF A THIRD PLANET
THAT ORBITS ABOUT ONCE A YEAR.
SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SUPPOSED PLANETS 'ARE NOT UNLIKE
THOSE OF THE INNER SOLAR SYSTEM,' ACCORDING TO THE
DISCOVERERS. BOTH PLANETS ARE IN ORBITS ABOUT THE SAME
DISTANCE FROM THEIR PULSAR AS MERCURY IF FROM THE SUN -- AT
33.5 MILLION MILES AND 44 MILLION MILES OUT.
THE NEW STUDY WAS PRESENTED BY ALEXANDER WOLSZCZAN, A SENIOR
RESEARCHER WITH THE NATIONAL ASTRONOMY AND IONOSPHERE CENTER
AT THE ARECIBO OBSERVATORY IN PUERTO RICO, AND DALE A. FRAIL
AT THE NATIONAL RADIO ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY IN SOCORRO, NEW
MEXICO. ITS PUBLISHED IN TODAY'S ISSUE OF THE JOURNAL
NATURE.
=END=
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