Monday 2 May 2011

View the exoplanet Cancri e for the next two months...

In the news today more details were revealed of the 'super-exotic' exoplanet called Cancri e. It is 8 times as large as Earth and is the densest, most solid planet found anywhere to date. A human would weigh three times as much on the planet! 
Scientists believe that temperatures on the planet could reach 2700 degrees Celsius so not quite right for human inhabitation but as Josh Winn, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said: "it is the perfect laboratory to test theories of planet formation, evolution and survival."
It was found using the Doppler method and I'm going to blog about that in my next post.
Now whilst Cancri e is 40 light years away and not visible through our telescopes, its host star, 55 Cancri A, can be observed over the next two months by naked eyes on a dark clear night or using binoculars or a telescope, it is an extrasolar planetary system found in the constellation Cancer the Crab and here's a map to help guide you in...



This image found here illustrates the positioning of the extra-solar system in comparison to ours to give you a feel of the positioning...

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