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TOPIC: OGLE-TR-113b

Blobrana

L

Posts: 131433

Date: Oct 15 19:18 2010

OGLE-TR-113b	Permalink

Farewell OGLE-TR-113b, it was nice to meet you. The planet, discovered in 2002, is the first found that seems to be spiralling towards its star - and a grisly death. As the Jupiter-sized world orbits its star, we see a temporary dimming in the star's light when the planet passes between it and us. This transit occurs during each of its 32-hour-long orbits. Observations made between 2002 and 2009 show that the time between transits is shortening by 60 milliseconds per Earth year, say Elisabeth Adams of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and colleagues (Astrophysical Journal, vol 721, p 1829). They say this implies that the planet's orbit may be shrinking. It is currently just 2 per cent of the Earth-sun distance. Read more __________________

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