# The Existence Of Extra-Solar Planets **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 17, 1999, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-existence-of-extra-solar-planets/11435 "1999-11-17T10:05:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 1999, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-existence-of-extra-solar-planets/11435/1 "1999-11-17T10:05:00Z")
[Astronomers Witness Silhouette Of Planet Crossing Distant Star, Proving The Existence Of Extra-Solar Planets.](http://www2.keck.hawaii.edu:3636/realpublic/gen_info/news/extrasolarplanetNOV99.html) We live in interesting times! \

Tris\ ---

**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 1999, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-existence-of-extra-solar-planets/11435/2 "1999-11-17T22:34:00Z")
The server seems to down at the moment. Here’s a link to CNN: [http://cnn.com/TECH/space/9911/13/newplanet.ap/index.html](http://cnn.com/TECH/space/9911/13/newplanet.ap/index.html) According to that story, the other planet is only 63% as massive as Jupiter, but it’s 60% _wider_. Damn thing must look like a football! It must be rotating _very_ fast. Maybe they’ll call it _Pontiac_: “Wider is Better.” 🙂 Good thing it’s “only” 153 light-years away. Much further, and we’d never have been able to detect the eclipse. Also good the system is oriented toward us. If we were looking at either the star’s North or South poles, we’d never have witnessed that eclipse. * * * Fighting my own ignorance since 1957. ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 1999, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-existence-of-extra-solar-planets/11435/3 "1999-11-20T01:32:00Z")
Oh, I realized later that planet wouldn’t look like a football. Turn a cereal bowl upside down and place it atop another bowl that is right-side up. * * * Fighting my own ignorance since 1957. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 1999, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-existence-of-extra-solar-planets/11435/4 "1999-11-20T11:31:00Z")
> [@](#): > > The star’s radiance dimmed 1.7 percent on Nov. 7. On Thursday, it happened again, seemingly verifying the scientists’ calculations that the planet orbits its star every 3.523 days. So this planet’s YEAR is 3.523 days?!? That planet must be moving at quite a clip! Daaaamn! * * * – O p a l C a t [www.opalcat.com](http://www.opalcat.com) ---
**Author:** ![KentT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a5b964/32.png) [@KentT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KentT)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 1999, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-existence-of-extra-solar-planets/11435/5 "1999-11-20T13:41:00Z")
> [@](#): > > but it’s 60% wider. Damn thing must look like a football! > [@](#): > > Oh, I realized later that planet wouldn’t look like a football. Turn a cereal bowl upside down and place it atop another bowl that is right-side up. I think they meant it has a 60% larger diameter, which would make it spherical. Just like a REAL football. So you were right the first time. Although if you meant a cereal bowl that was a half-sphere, you were right the second time too. ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 1999, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-existence-of-extra-solar-planets/11435/6 "1999-11-21T01:43:00Z")
Jupiter is wider at its equator than it is from pole to pole. And its poles are flattened. This is obvious when Jupiter is viewed from above its equator. But if you view it from above either pole, it’s perfectly round. In other words, it’s round and it’s wider than it is tall. It’s not a sphere. Only from one end does a football look round. Stacking two cereal bowls as I suggested will give you a structure that is round and wider than it is tall. Now that I think of it, the planet may be shaped like a jelly doughnut. And I still can’t get into that site that **Tris** linked us to. ☹ * * * Fighting my own ignorance since 1957. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 1999, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-existence-of-extra-solar-planets/11435/7 "1999-11-21T09:19:00Z")
Here is the link, which works fine for me, at 4:21 AM EST. I left out the fancy link naming, this time. if it stretches the topic width I am sorry. [http://www2.keck.hawaii.edu:3636/realpublic/gen\_info/news/extrasolarplanetNOV99.html](http://www2.keck.hawaii.edu:3636/realpublic/gen_info/news/extrasolarplanetNOV99.html) \

Tris\ ---

**Author:** ![KentT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a5b964/32.png) [@KentT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KentT)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 1999, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-existence-of-extra-solar-planets/11435/8 "1999-11-21T17:52:00Z")
[quote] it’s round and it’s wider than it is tall. True. Its polar/equatioral diameters differ by about 5%. > [@](#): > > It’s not a sphere. No, but the difference is negligable. I’d still describe it as a sphere. ---
**Author:** ![KentT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a5b964/32.png) [@KentT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KentT)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 1999, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-existence-of-extra-solar-planets/11435/9 "1999-11-21T17:53:00Z")
This is what it was supposed to look like: > [@](#): > > it’s round and it’s wider than it is tall. True. Its polar/equatioral diameters differ by about 5%. > [@](#): > > It’s not a sphere. No, but the difference is negligable. I’d still describe it as a sphere. ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 1999, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-existence-of-extra-solar-planets/11435/10 "1999-11-21T21:44:00Z")
The Earth is not precisely spherical, but the difference cannot be seen by the naked eye. Jupiter’s deviation can be seen in any good photograph. And this other planet… WOW! If any science fiction writer ever conceived a world this weird, I don’t know about it. * * * Fighting my own ignorance since 1957. ---
**Author:** ![KentT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a5b964/32.png) [@KentT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KentT)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 1999, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-existence-of-extra-solar-planets/11435/11 "1999-11-21T22:25:00Z")
Just got through to the non-cnn link in this thread. > [@](#): > > Interestingly, while the planet’s mass is only about two-thirds (63 percent) of Jupiter’s mass, its radius is 60 percent bigger than that of Jupiter. While the wording on the CNN page was poor, there is nothing particularly wierd about this planet. It’s a near-spherical planet-shaped planet. As I said earlier Jupiter is fairly round, the fact that it looks “squished” probably has more to do with the horizontal pattern than the actual shape of it. 5% isn’t that much. ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 1999, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-existence-of-extra-solar-planets/11435/12 "1999-11-23T19:30:00Z")
I get it now! It’s simply _less massive_ than Jupiter _and_ wider at the same time! It occupies more space than Jupiter despite being less massive. * * * Fighting my own ignorance since 1957. ---
**Author:** ![Boris\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 1999, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-existence-of-extra-solar-planets/11435/13 "1999-11-23T19:51:00Z")
I wonder if this means its density is comparable to that of Saturn. * * * Nothing I write about any person or group should be applied to a larger group. - Boris Badenov