Newly discovered king-sized planet closer to Earth

17 Feb 2020

Newly discovered king-sized planet closer to Earth

Newly discovered king-sized planet closer to EarthA while ago, we read about a new planet discovered by a 17-year-old.Now, scientists have discovered a newborn king-sized planet closer to Earth.

The discovery has been published in the Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society.

This "baby" planet named 2MASS 1155-7919 b, is located in the Epsilon Chamaeleontis Association.
 	Epsilon Chamaeleontis is a naked-eye star located in the constellation Chamaeleon. Chamaeleon is a small constellation* in the southern sky. It is named after the chameleon, a kind of lizard.
 	It lies only about 330 light-years from our solar system.
 	The planet orbits a star which is 5 million years old, about one thousand times younger than our Sun.
 	The planet also orbits its sun at 600 times the distance of the Earth to the Sun.
 	According to researchers, this is also only the fourth or fifth example of a giant planet so far from its ‘parent’ star.
 	This distance between the parent star and the young star is a puzzle, according to the authors.

Astronomers may use follow-up imaging and spectroscopy to understand this difference.

*A constellation is an area in which a group of stars forms an imaginary outline or pattern, typically representing an animal or any object

We hope you enjoy reading our Planet news. Isn’t it interesting to read about the different planets in our solar system? And don’t we love to know about exoplanets? And of course, to know more about asteroids and comets too. We are always curious to know about our galaxy, its quirks and its characteristics. We hope you learn more about our planets, the Milky Way and all the scientific experiments and research that is being done on them too. Keep reading Curious Times for exciting space news for children.

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