MUFONET-BBS GROUP  -  MUTUAL UFO NETWORK
        
                    ASTRONOMY NEWS - WIRE
                  

=START=   XMT: 11:33 Thu Jan 09  EXP: 12:00 Thu Jan 16      
                                                            
U.S. SCIENTISTS FIND TWO NEW PLANETS IN MILKY WAY GALAXY    
                                                            
WASHINGTON (JAN. 9) XINHUA - U.S. ASTRONOMERS HAVE FOUND    
EVIDENCE OF AT LEAST TWO AND POSSIBLY THREE PLANETS ORBITING
A DENSE STAR IN THE MILKY WAY GALAXY.  THEY SAID, IF        
CONFIRMED, THE PLANETS WOULD BE THE FIRST KNOWN OUTSIDE THE 
SOLAR SYSTEM.                                               
                                                            
SEVERAL PRIOR STUDIES HAD CLAIMED TO FIND SUCH PLANETS, BUT 
SOME OF THOSE STUDIES HAVE BEEN PROVED WRONG OR REMAIN      
UNCONFIRMED.                                                
                                                            
THE NEWLY DISCOVERED SUPPOSED PLANETS ARE IN ORBIT NOT      
AROUND A 'NORMAL' STAR LIKE THE SUN BUT A DENSELY PACKED,   
DEAD STAR KNOWN AS A PULSAR. PULSARS LEND THEMSELVES TO     
MEASUREMENT BY EXISTING EARTH TECHNOLOGY, BUT ASTRONOMERS   
SAID THEY WILL NEED MORE CREATIVE TECHNOLOGY TO MAKE SIMILAR
DISCOVERIES INVOLVING ORDINARY STARS.                       
                                                            
THE TWO PUTATIVE PLANETS, EACH ABOUT THREE TIMES THE MASS OF
EARTH, ARE CIRCLING A NEWLY DISCOVERED PULSAR LOCATED ABOUT 
1,300 LIGHT-YEARS FROM EARTH IN THE PLANE OF THE MILKY WAY. 
THE PLANET ON THE INSIDE TRACK APPEARS TO ORBIT THE PULSAR  
ONCE EVERY 66.6 DAYS. THE OTHER PLANET ON THE OUTSIDE TRACK 
APPEARS TO ORBIT THE PULSAR ONCE EVERY 98.2 DAYS.           
                                                            
RESULTS ALSO SUGGESTED THE POSSIBILITY OF A THIRD PLANET    
THAT ORBITS ABOUT ONCE A YEAR.                              
                                                            
SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SUPPOSED PLANETS 'ARE NOT UNLIKE
THOSE OF THE INNER SOLAR SYSTEM,' ACCORDING TO THE          
DISCOVERERS. BOTH PLANETS ARE IN ORBITS ABOUT THE SAME      
DISTANCE FROM THEIR PULSAR AS MERCURY IF FROM THE SUN -- AT 
33.5 MILLION MILES AND 44 MILLION MILES OUT.                
                                                            
THE NEW STUDY WAS PRESENTED BY ALEXANDER WOLSZCZAN, A SENIOR
RESEARCHER WITH THE NATIONAL ASTRONOMY AND IONOSPHERE CENTER
AT THE ARECIBO OBSERVATORY IN PUERTO RICO, AND DALE A. FRAIL
AT THE NATIONAL RADIO ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY IN SOCORRO,  NEW
MEXICO. ITS PUBLISHED IN TODAY'S ISSUE OF THE JOURNAL       
NATURE.                                                     
                                                            
=END=

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