* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: Kepler-138b

Blobrana · L

Exoplanet smaller than Earth gets its size and mass measured

A team of astronomers has measured the mass and size of a Mars-sized planet orbiting a red dwarf star about 200 light years from our solar system. The planet, named Kepler-138b, is the first exoplanet smaller than the Earth to have both its mass and its size measured. A paper by the team, which includes astronomers at Penn State University, NASA Ames Research Center, the SETI Institute and the University of Chicago, will be published in the journal Nature on June 18.
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Blobrana · L

Measuring the mass of a Mars-size exoplanet

Determining the size of an Earth-size exoplanet by the amount of starlight it blocks hundreds of light-years away once was the realm of science fiction. Measuring the mass of such a small planet based on its gravity was another level entirely, but astronomers have done just that for an exoplanet fifty percent the size of Earth.
Researchers using NASA's Kepler mission data have measured the mass of a Mars-size exoplanet that is about one tenth the mass of Earth. Called Kepler-138b, it is the first exoplanet smaller than Earth to have both its mass and size measured. This significantly extends the range of planets with measured densities.
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