A new planet was found in the Milky Way by astronomers that is like no planet ever found before; GJ1214b is made up almost completely of water. Not only is the planet it's self made up of water, but as well as the atmosphere. The strange part of this planet though is that the water is not in a liquid form. A lot of the water is in a steam or ice form. The planet weighs about seven times more then earth does, and has much more water then our planet has. The astronomer looking at it said that this planet is special because of how dense it is. Right now, the astronomers continue to observe the atmosphere to try and understand it more.
I found this article to be cool, but also very vague. The astronomers at Harvard are still learning a lot more about the planet and are just sharing their findings as they go along. The cool part is how dense this planet made of water is. We will hear more about it soon, I'm sure!
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/28/science/gj1214b-new-planet-in-milky-way-revels-in-steam-and-ice.html?_r=1&scp=5&sq=astronomy&st=cse
This is so cool! How close is this planet to us? Is there any solid rock on the planet?
ReplyDeleteDo you know where it got it's name? Does it have to do with the telescope like Kepler planets?
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