Original URL:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/23/nasa_planets/ NASA
catches light from another planet Heralds new era in planet
watching Scientists working with NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope
have directly observed light from a known extra-solar planet.
The US space agency has hailed the breakthrough as the beginning
of a "new age" in planetary science. Regular Register readers
might remember a picture of an extra-solar planet , released in
January this year. This is a mere planetary candidate however,
so is not quite so exciting to the men and women in white coats.
The lead scientist on that project, Glenn Schneider, told New
Scientist that he suspects the "planetary mass" formed quite
differently to the planets in our own solar system. This new
research involves planets classed as "Hot Jupiters", which orbit
sun-like stars, and probably evolved in a similar way to Earth.
The results reveal that the so-called "hot Jupiters" are worth
of the name. Both planets clock in at least 1,000 Kelvin, or 727
degre