New class of planets discovered

Astronomers have just announced the discovery of a new class of extreme type planets. These planets whiz round their parent stars in less than a day.

Observations with the Hubble Space Telescope revealed the existence of the planets, which orbit closer to their stars than any previously known.

It uncovered the existence of 16 planets in the category of close orbiters, taking between 0.4 and 3.2 days to go around their respective stars.

Many of the planets are the size of Jupiter, the largest planet in our Solar System. Two of the 16 have orbits of less than a day, creating a new category of "ultra-short" orbit exoplanets.

Link: BBC
Image: Nasa, Esa, A. Schaller
Tags: Planet | Exoplanet | Orbit | Extreme | Space | Astronomy