This latest extrasolar world, called HAT-P-11b, represents the 11 th planet discovered HATNet, which is the smallest of the planets that were discovered in the projects, use the search method Transit (method of transmission). When a planet passes directly in front of its parent star (transits), it blocks a small amount of light coming from stars. In this case, the planet is blocked by about 0.4% brightness starlight. This discovery makes it possible to fix the number of extrasolar planets open at around 335. Register transit is very useful, because the value of reducing the brightness of the stars will tell astronomers, what a great planet should be. Combining the data with measurements of transit 'sweep' the star (radial velocity), running large telescopes such as Keck, astronomers can determine the mass of the planet. At the While Neptune has a diameter of 3.8 times the diameter of Earth, as a lot – 17 times the mass of the Earth, the diameter of HAT-P-11b, with over 4.7 Earth's diameter, and weight – 25 times the mass of the Earth. Read additional details here: John Marlow San Francisco. Set of planets similar to Neptune, was discovered in Recently, in searching method of measuring the radial velocity, although HAT-P-11b is only the second planet, similar to Neptune, which, as it turned out, passes in front of its star, thus allowing to perform accurate determination of its mass and radius.
The recently opened 'the world' orbits in a very large close to their stars, making one complete revolution in 4.88 days. As a result, the planet warmed to a temperature of about 1100 degrees Fahrenheit. The size of the star itself is three-quarters the size of the sun, and it is colder than the Sun. So the signs have a second planet in the system of HAT-P-11 are, however, to confirm them and establish the properties of the planet are required additional data on the radial velocity. Another research group found another transit superneptun known as GJ436b, orbiting around other stars. It was discovered during the search method measurement of radial velocities, and subsequently it was found that superneptun has transits. 'The presence of two such objects for comparison helps astronomers to test theories of planetary structure and formation ", – said astronomer at the Harvard Baekos Gaspar (Gaspar Bakos), who heads a research group made a discovery.
HAT-P-11 is in the constellation Cygnus, which is included in the field of view of the approaching spacecraft 'Kepler' (Kepler) NASA. Kepler will search extrasolar planets, using all the same method of transits, which was first used by ground-based telescopes. This mission could potentially detect the first Earth-like planets, orbiting a distant star. 'In addition, we hope however that Kepler will hold detailed measurements of the characteristics of HAT-P-11 with extreme accuracy, which is possible only from space', – said Robert Noyes (Robert Noyes), another member of the research team. Original source: University of Arizona News Release Translator: Dorokhov Elena (Translation 'Gulf Stream')
