The smaller stars also have planets

A planet like our Jupiter has been detected using a technique called astrometry, orbiting one of the smallest known stars, barely one-twelfth the size of the sun.

The astrometry has been trying to use successfully for fifty years but has now been unable to discern when the first exoplanet using this technique, which measure the movement of a star in the sky as one of its planets (without seeing) is dedicated to passing in front and behind him. But this method requires action on immense periods of time and so far had failed to detect any exoplanet.

So two NASA astronomers have been using a device with a telescope at an observatory near San Diego (USA) to observe for 12 years a group of about thirty stars intermittently, and finally detected an exoplanet around one of them.

"This method is optimal for finding solar systems that could harbor planets like ours. We've found a style planet Jupiter in the same place on roughly to our Jupiter, only around a star much smaller. And about 70% of stars are smaller than this, it means that planets are more common than we thought, "said Steven Pravdo, leader of the study.

This finding confirms that the astrometry can be a powerful technique for finding planets for space telescopes both to those on earth.

The new exoplanet found, named after VB 10b, is 20 light years from us in the constellation Aquila. It is a gas giant with a mass six times greater than Jupiter. Despite how far he is from the star, its internal temperature does having a temperature similar to Earth.

Source | ScienceDaily