Friday, December 6, 2013

The Wonders of Space

An enormous alien planet — one that is 11 times more massive than Jupiter — was discovered in the most distant orbit yet found around a single parent star.

The newfound exoplanet, dubbed HD 106906 b, dwarfs any planetary body in the solar system, and circles its star at a distance that is 650 times the average distance between the Earth and the sun.
To put that in perspective, that planet is orbiting its star at a distance that is five times further out than the Voyager 1 probe has traveled. Given that Voyager is slowing down as it travels up the side of the Sun's gravity well and it has been 36 years since it was launched, a probe sent to a planet that far out would take about two centuries to make the trip.

Here's a bit of trivia: The length of HD 106906's year is 16,482 of our years. Which would save a lot of money on buying birthday presents.

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