Eighth Planet Outside Our Solar System Is Identified
From Times staff and wire reports
Researchers at San Francisco State University and the University of Arizona have independently discovered the eighth planet known to exist outside our solar system. The planet orbits the sun-like star 16 Cygni B, about 85 light-years from Earth.
The planet, whose discovery was reported Wednesday at an American Astronomical Society meeting in Tucson, has a mass about 1.6 times that of Jupiter and an orbit that is much more elliptical than any previously observed. It was discovered by observing wobbles in the star’s motion.
