And Now, for Something Completely Different: New Planets: Three Hot, One Not

Planets are in the astronomical news:

"Planet System Similar to Ours Revealed." 55 Cancri, a star about 41 light years away, in the constellation Cancer, has five planets. The fifth was discovered recently, and is around the right distance from its star for water to be a liquid.

Since the fifth planet is about 45 times more massive than Earth, and possibly built along the lines of Saturn, there won't be life-as-we-know-it on the planet. But, that doesn't rule out moons of the newly discovered planet. And, there's a gap in the five known planets' orbits that's within 55 Cancri's habitable zone.

Exciting times.

And, there's "Newfound Planets are Scorching Hot." They each orbit a different star. Two are about 500 light years away, in the southern constellation Phoenix (appropriate name, in these circumstances).

---

Related posts, at

• "A Serious Search for Other Worlds, Life, and - Maybe - Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence"