Something strange in the space

Compiled by

Chilman Sahni

YOUNGEST EXTRA-SOLAR PLANET FOUND

The youngest extra solar planet, six times the mass of Jupiter – m1.9×1027 kg, has been discovered. The giant planet named BD+20 1790b is only 35 million years old and orbits a young active central star at a distance closer than Mercury orbits the sun. An international team of astronomers led by Dr Maria Cruz Galvez-Ortiz and Dr. John Barnes from University of Hertfordshire made the discovery. The planet is situated 83 light years away from the earth and is the youngest planet orbiting a star of similar size to our Sun. Only one young planet aged 100 million years, was previously known but the newly discovered planet is about 3 times younger, the astronomers said.

ALIENS MAY BE STARING US IN THE FACE

In what appears out to be something straight out of a Hollywood science fiction, a leading astronomer has claimed that aliens might be “staring us in the face” in a form we are unable to recognize. The startling remark was made by Lord Martin Rees, the president of Britain’s Royal Society and astronomer to the Queen. Rees, who last month hosted the National Science Academy’s first conference of the possibility of alien life, said he believes the existence of extra terrestrial life may be beyond understanding. “The problem is that we’re looking for something very much like us. I suspect that there could be life and intelligence out there in forms we can’t conceive. Just as a chimpanzee can’t understand quantum theory, it could be there as aspects of reality that are beyond the capacity of our brains.” he said. He stated that improved telescopes made the chance of finding extra terrestrial life “better than ever”.

1