<<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5241774.stm >>
BBC NEWS
Strange 'twin' new worlds found
A pair of strange new worlds that blur the boundaries between planets
and stars have been discovered beyond our Solar System.
A few dozen such objects have been identified in recent years but this
is the first set of "twins".
Dubbed "planemos", they circle each other rather than orbiting a star.
Their existence challenges current theories about the formation of
planets and stars, astronomers report in the journal Science.
"This is a truly remarkable pair of twins - each having only about 1%
the mass of our Sun," said Ray Jayawardhana of the University of
Toronto, co-author of the Science paper.
"Its mere existence is a surprise, and its origin and fate a bit of a
mystery."
'Double planet'
The pair belongs to what some astronomers believe is a new class of
planet-like objects floating through space; so-called planetary mass
objects, or "planemos", which are not bound to stars.
Now we're curious to find out whether such pairs are common or rare.
The answer could shed light on how free-floating planetary-mass objects
form
Valentin Ivanov
They appear to have been forged from a contracting gas cloud, in a
similar way to stars, but are much too cool to be true stars.
And while they have similar masses to many of the giant planets
discovered beyond our Solar System (the largest weighs in at 14 times
the mass of Jupiter and the other is about seven times more massive),
they are not thought to be true planets either.
"We are resisting the temptation to call it a 'double planet' because
this pair probably didn't form the way that planets in our Solar System
did," said co-researcher Valentin Ivanov of the European Southern
Observatory (ESO) in Santiago, Chile.
'Amazing diversity'
The two objects have similar spectra and colours, suggesting that they
formed at the same time about a million years ago.
They are separated by about six times the distance between the Sun and
Pluto, and can be found in the Ophiuchus star-forming region some 400
light years away. They go under the official name Oph 162225-240515, or
Oph 1622 for short.
"Recent discoveries have revealed an amazing diversity of worlds out
there," said Dr Jayawardhana. "Still, the Oph 1622 pair stands out as
one of the most intriguing, if not peculiar."
His colleague, Dr Ivanov, said they were curious to find out whether
such pairs are common or rare.
"The answer could shed light on how free-floating planetary-mass
objects form," he added.
Oph 1622 was discovered using the ESO's New Technology Telescope at La
Silla, Chile. Follow-up studies were conducted with the ESO's Very
Large Telescope.
Story from BBC NEWS:
<<http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/sci/tech/5241774.stm>>
Published: 2006/08/03 20:50:13 GMT
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