Thursday, November 15, 2007

Rocky Planets Might Inhabit Popular Nearby Star Cluster

Space.com - November 15, 2007
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Astronomers have spotted a thick cloud of dust surrounding a star in the Pleiades, or "Seven Sisters," star cluster that they speculate is debris created from the collisions of rocky planet embryos or full-fledged planets.
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Using the Gemini Observatory and NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, the researchers found that dust surrounding HD 23514, a star in the Pleiades that is slightly more massive and bright than our sun, is hundreds of thousands of times thicker than in our solar system.
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