Nov. 20th, 2010

jude_rook: Image of Andromeda Galaxy (Default)
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2010/11/17/science.1193342
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/alien-planet-from-another-galaxy-discovered-101118.html

HIP 10344 is an old red giant of low metallicity (one percent of Sol’s!) located about 2000 light years away, in Fornax.  It is one of 33 stars known to have originated in a satellite galaxy that the Milky Way absorbed billions of years ago.  German astronomers have just discovered HIP 10344b, a gas giant planet that goes around the star in a close orbit. 

Not only is it just plain neat to have it confirmed that stars in other galaxies are capable of forming planets, but it’s interesting to know that such an old, low-metal star still formed at least one planet.  HIP 10344b may have formed from a different process than the usual core-accretion (particles of dust and gas clumping together) and may not even have a rocky core.

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jude_rook: Image of Andromeda Galaxy (Default)
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