Massive Planet Found by Astronomers Using Novel Network of Tiny Telescopes

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In a transit measurement astronomers cannot see the image of the planet directly. Instead they measure the slight dimming of the light of the distant star as the planet passes across the face of it. Credit: J. Hall Lowell Observatory
In a transit measurement, astronomers cannot see the image of the planet directly. Instead, they measure the slight dimming of the light of the distant star as the planet passes across the face of it. Credit: J. Hall, Lowell Observatory

Our home solar system may be down by a planet with the recent demotion of Pluto, but the number of giant planets discovered in orbit around other stars continues to grow steadily. Now, an international team of astronomers has detected a planet larger than Jupiter that orbits a star 500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Draco.


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