Astronomers Discover 18 Huge New Alien Planets

SPACE.com Staff

Date: 02 December 2011 Time: 03:52 PM ET

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This artist's image shows a newly formed planet swimming through the gas and dust surrounding the star. Such a planet might scoop up gas and dust to build an atmosphere, which it could lose as it moves closer to its sun. Thus it could shift from a gas planet to a terrestrial planet. CREDIT: NASA/ JPL-Caltech View full size image

Astronomers have found 18 new alien planets, all of them Jupiter-size gas giants that circle stars bigger than our sun, a new study reports.
The discoveries increase the number of known planets orbiting massive stars by 50 percent. The exoplanet bounty should also help astronomers better understand how giant planets form and grow in nascent alien solar systems, researchers said.

MORE: http://www.space.com/13810-eighteen-huge-alien-planets-keck-telescope.html








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