Wow! Every week a new discovery it seems. This planet is 230 light years away, so I guess we will not get a closer look in our life-time.
In related news, a survey determines that Pluto is a planet:
http://www.planetary.org/news/2004/p...e_results.html
It all used to be so simple: since the discovery of Pluto by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930, the Solar System has had 9 planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Then, in the past 15 years, astronomers have learned that Pluto is not the lonely planet it was thought to be. Pluto, it became clear, is merely the largest member of a whole class of objects orbiting in the outer Solar System, known collectively as Kuiper Belt Objects, or KBO's. Then, in the past two years, even that distinction of Pluto was cast into doubt; Quaoar, discovered in 2002 orbiting in the Kuiper belt is around 1250 kilometers across, compared to Pluto's 2300 kilometers. 2004DW, discovered in January 2004 might be as large as 1400 kilometers in diameter, and Sedna, the most recently discovered giant is estimated at 1800 kilometers. The day may not be far when objects fully the size of Pluto or even larger may be discovered in the outer edge of the Solar System.
There may still be more planets to discover in our own solar system!
The continuing search for extra-solar planets:
http://www.planetary.org/news/2004/2neptunes_0902.html
