Newest Planet has Found

By: Spencer Hunt

Ohio State University astronomers helped a Louisville researcher find a Saturn-like planet that's so close to its star that a "year" lasts just under eight days.

Karen Collins, a Louisville doctoral student, announced the discovery this afternoon, during the American Astronomical Society’s national meeting in Indianapolis. OSU astronomers and planet hunters Scott Gaudi and Thomas Beatty were part of Collins' team.

Named KELT-6b, the planet is located in the constellation Coma Berenices, about 700 light years from our solar system.

The planet was first observed by relatively inexpensive earth-bound telescopes that essentially work like high-end digital cameras. KELT stands for Kilosquaredegree Extremely Little Telescope .

As the new planet's name implies, KELT-6b is the sixth planet discovered by these telescopes. It is much like the first planet, KELT-1b, which was identified last year.

Located 825 light years away in the constellation Andromeda, KELT-1b is 30 times bigger than Jupiter. Its orbit is so small that its year lasts a mere 29 hours.