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Local Scientists Help Discover New Planet

Written by KEYT Assignment Desk

Story Created: Mar 17, 2010 at 11:39 AM PST

Story Updated: Mar 17, 2010 at 5:29 PM PST

Santa Barbara, CA-- An group of 60 scientists from around the world, with the help of several local, researchers, say they've discovered a new planet.

The Jupiter-sized planet, which is called CoRoT-9, was first spotted in 2008 with a space telescope satellite.

Avi Shporer, a UC Santa Barbara fellow, and several other local scientists with the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network in Goleta, helped researchers confirm, CoRoT was in fact a planet.

Scientist say CoRoT orbits a star similar to our sun and is located about 1500 light years from earth.

Shporer says, what makes this hydrogen and helium-based planet special, is that it is temperate and transits a star.

For more information go to http://www.instadv.ucsb.edu/pa/display.aspx?pkey=2204
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