Ynet – A Falling Star

Nasa’s Kepler mission discovered a new moon-size planet:

NASA’s Kepler Mission Discovers Tiny Planet System

WASHINGTON — NASA’s Kepler mission scientists have discovered a new planetary system that is home to the smallest planet yet found around a star similar to our sun.

The planets are located in a system called Kepler-37, about 210 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra. The smallest planet, Kepler-37b, is slightly larger than our moon, measuring about one-third the size of Earth. It is smaller than Mercury, which made its detection a challenge.

And for the average Joe, here’s an artist’s illustration

The line up compares artist's concepts of the planets in the Kepler-37 system to the moon and planets in the solar system. The smallest planet, Kepler-37b, is slightly larger than our moon, measuring about one-third the size of Earth. Kepler-37c, the second planet, is slightly smaller than Venus, measuring almost three-quarters the size of Earth. Kepler-37d, the third planet, is twice the size of Earth.
The line up compares artist’s concepts of the planets in the Kepler-37 system to the moon and planets in the solar system. The smallest planet, Kepler-37b, is slightly larger than our moon, measuring about one-third the size of Earth. Kepler-37c, the second planet, is slightly smaller than Venus, measuring almost three-quarters the size of Earth. Kepler-37d, the third planet, is twice the size of Earth.

Truly fascinating stuff, which Ynet just have to ruin with moronic captions and below average reporting.

ynet keplerThe caption translates to:

Kepler 37b in comparison to the planets in our solar system (Photography: AFP)

Apparently, our solar system now includes Kepler 37b, 37c and 37d, and our moon is now a planet. This sure as hell isn’t a photograph, and crediting AFP for it (reminder, it’s NASA’s), while translating a Reuters article verbatim, is retarded.

 

 

1 thought on “Ynet – A Falling Star”

  1. Actually, the Moon and the Earth form a double planet system, where you could call either one of them the “planet”.

    If you have a proper planet-moon system, the moon “falls away” from the sun during part of its orbit – the moon’s orbit is, part of the time, convex toward the sun. A moon’s orbit is always concave toward the planet it orbits and the planet’s orbit is always concave towards the sun it orbits.

    However, for the Earth-Moon system, both orbits are always concave towards the Sun. If you were to plot either orbit on its own, the orbit would form a circle with wobbly edges – it just doesn’t look that way in conventional pictures.

    However, people are happier calling the Moon “a moon”, so who am I to argue?

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top