CoRoT-9b, a Jupiter-sized exoplanet thats orbits its star every 95 days, is the latest discovery of the CoRoT satellite, a project in which the German Aerospace Center (DLR) is a participant.
"This exoplanet stands out by virtue of its 'normality'. It is a very close approximation of the planets in our own solar system," says Professor Heike Rauer from the DLR Institute of Planetary Research in Berlin, who manages the German contribution to CoRoT.
CoRoT-9b lies far away from our Solar System, some 1500 light-years from Earth, and orbits a star in the constellation of the Serpent. From the duration of its orbit, it would appear that the distance between planet and star is roughly the same as the distance separating Mercury from our Sun.
CoRoT-9b is therefore an entirely normal planet - presumably a gaseous planet with relatively moderate temperatures anywhere from -20 degrees to 160 degrees Celsius, depending on whether or not it is shrouded in a highly reflective cloud layer.
The differences between its day and night sides are probably only slight. CoRoT-9b is therefore substantially different from the class of 'hot Jupiters', which orbit their central star about every three days. A planet with a short orbital period is located very close to its star and is therefore exposed to powerful stellar radiation.
It is from this that the names of the planetary classes 'hot Jupiters' and 'hot Neptunes' are derived.
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