Newswise — Astronomer Lisa Kaltenegger says new hot planet is a really cool new discovery Lisa Kaltenegger, professor of astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell University and director of Cornell’s Carl Sagan Institute, comments on the discovery of GJ 1132b, a new planet only 39-light years from us. Bio: http://astro.cornell.edu/members/lisa-kaltenegger.html
Kaltenegger says: “GJ 1132b is an interesting close by very hot, rocky planet. It has a density like Earth, and is only 39 light-years from us and among the few closest transiting rocky planets we have found so far.
“It is really, really hot. We have no planet in our solar system that gets that much heat from the sun. GJ 1132b gets 10 times as much heat as Venus and three times as much heat as Mercury, the innermost planet.
“It is a very hot planet but, of course, a very cool discovery. With planets close by, we can detect their atmosphere and learn about it. It will be a great target to look at its air and figure out how really hot planets work.
“While GJ 1132b is not in the habitable zone, every new planet teaches us more about how planets work in general. So even if it is too hot, it is of course a cool discovery.
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