Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Kepler Finds an Earth-Sized “Gas Giant”

Kepler Finds an Earth-Sized “Gas Giant”:
Artist's impression of KOI-314c
Kepler Finds an Earth-Sized “Gas Giant”
Artist’s impression of KOI-314c, a gas-covered planet with the same mass as Earth. Credit: C. Pulliam & D. Aguilar (CfA)
Gas planets aren’t always bloated, monstrous worlds the size of Jupiter or Saturn —  or larger — they can also apparently be just barely bigger than Earth. This was the discovery announced earlier today during the 223rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington, DC, when findings regarding the gassy (but surprisingly small) exoplanet KOI-314c were presented.
“This planet might have the same mass as Earth, but it is certainly not Earth-like,” said David Kipping of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), lead author of the discovery. “It proves that there is no clear dividing line between rocky worlds like Earth and fluffier planets like water worlds or gas giants.”
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Read the rest of Kepler Finds an Earth-Sized “Gas Giant” (354 words)

© Jason Major for Universe Today, 2014. |
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