*EPF209 08/31/2004
Text: U.S. Scientists Announce New Class of Planets
(NASA-backed research points the way to future discovery of Earth-like planets) (1100)

U.S. scientists announced the discovery of a new class of planets outside Earth's solar system August 31, the smallest planets ever detected so far from Earth.

The planets are 10 to 20 times the size of Earth, about the size of Neptune, the eighth planet from the Sun. The announcement, made at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, is considered significant because the discovery reflects improved detection methods that ultimately should reveal even more about the mysteries beyond this solar system.

"These Neptune-sized planets prove that Jupiter-sized, gas giants aren't the only planets out there," said astronomer Geoffrey Marcy of the University of California, Berkeley, in an August 31 NASA press release.

Co-discoverer Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institute of Washington added, "We are beginning to see smaller and smaller planets. Earth-like planets are the next destination."

Two new plants were discovered. One circles a small star called Gliese 436, an M dwarf star about 40 percent the size of the Sun. This new planet is the first to be discovered in the orbit of such a low-power sun, 30 light years away in the constellation Leo.

The second new planet is part of a four-planet system that orbits 55 Cancri, located in the constellation Cancer, about 41 light years away.

Astronomers can determine the orbit of an extrasolar planet by measuring the wobble it produces as instruments remain focused on the parent star. In the past, finding planets the size of Neptune or smaller has been difficult because they exert less of a tug on their parent stars than the majority of Jupiter-sized planets found so far.

Further information is available at
http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/news/ssu_images.html

The NASA text follows:

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NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
NASA NEWS

August 31, 2004

Scientists Discover First of a New Class of Extrasolar Planets

Astronomers announced today the first discovery of a new class of planets beyond our solar system about 10 to 20 times the size of Earth and far smaller than any previously detected. The planets make up a new class of Neptune-sized extrasolar planets.

In addition, one of the new planets joins three others around the nearby star 55 Cancri to form the first known four-planet system.

The discoveries consist of two new planets. They were discovered by the world renowned planet-hunting team of Drs. Paul Butler and Geoffrey Marcy of the Carnegie Institute of Washington and University of California, Berkeley, respectively; and Barbara McArthur of the University of Texas, Austin. Both findings were peer-reviewed and accepted for future publication in the Astrophysical Journal. NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded the research.

"NASA, along with our partner NSF, is extremely proud of this significant planetary discovery," said Al Diaz, Associate Administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "The outcome of the tremendous work of the project scientists is a shining example of the value of space exploration."

"These Neptune-sized planets prove that Jupiter-sized, gas giants aren't the only planets out there," Marcy said. Butler added, "We are beginning to see smaller and smaller planets. Earth-like planets are the next destination."

Future NASA planet-hunting missions, including Kepler, the Space Interferometry Mission and the Terrestrial Planet Finder, will seek such Earth-like planets. Nearly 140 extrasolar planets have been discovered.

Both of the new planets stick very close to their parent stars, whipping around them in a matter of days. The first planet, discovered by Marcy and Butler, circles a small star called Gliese 436 about every two-and-one-half days at just a small fraction of the distance between Earth and the sun, or 4.1 million kilometers (2.6 million miles). This planet is only the second known to orbit an M dwarf, a type of low-mass star four-tenths the size of our own sun. Gliese 436 is located in our galactic backyard, 30 light-years away in the constellation Leo.

The second planet, found by McArthur, speeds around 55 Cancri in just under three days, also at a fraction of the distance between Earth and the sun, at approximately 5.6 million kilometers (3.5 million miles). Three larger planets also revolve around the star every 15, 44 and 4,520 days, respectively. Marcy and Butler discovered the outermost of these in 2002. It is still the only known Jupiter-like gas giant to reside as far away from its star as our own Jupiter. The 55 Cancri is about 5 billion years old, a bit lighter than the sun, and is located 41 light-years away in the constellation Cancer. "55 Cancri is a premier laboratory for the study of planetary system formation and evolution," McArthur said.

Because the new planets are smaller than Jupiter, it is possible they are made of rock, or rock and ice, rather than gas. According to the scientists, the planets may have, like Earth, formed through gradual accumulation of rocky bodies. "A planet of Neptune's size may not have enough mass to hold onto gas, but at this point we don't know," Butler said.

Both discoveries were made using the "radial velocity" technique, in which a planet's gravitational tug is detected by the wobble it produces in the parent star. Butler, Marcy and collaborators, including Dr. Deborah Fischer of San Francisco State University and Dr. Steven Vogt of the University of California, Santa Cruz, discovered their "Neptune" after careful observation of 950 nearby stars with the W.M. Keck Observatory in Mauna Kea, Hawaii. They were able to spot such a relatively small planet, because the star it tugs on is small and more susceptible to wobbling.

McArthur and collaborators Drs. Michael Endl, William Cochran and Fritz Benedict of the University of Texas discovered their "Neptune" after obtaining over 100 observations of 55 Cancri from the Hobby-Eberly Telescope at McDonald Observatory in West Texas. Combining this data with past data from Marcy, Fischer and Butler from the Lick Observatory in California, and archival data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, the team was able to model the orbit of 55 Cancri's outer planet. This, in turn, allowed them to clearly see the orbits of the other three inner planets, including the new Neptune-sized one.

For visuals depicting the new planets and information about NASA's planet-hunting missions on the Internet, visit:
http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/news/ssu_images.html
http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov

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(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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