exoplanets to scale (XKCD)

Capt'n Midnight

Our Solar system is in the grey box in the middle

"Planets are turning out to be so common that to show all the planets in our galaxy, this chart would have to be nested in itself--with each planet replaced by a copy of the chart--at least three levels deep."

http://xkcd.com/1071/

Rubecula

Am I the only one who stared at that trying to find the smallest dot?

Cork boy 55

Does the star beta ceti have an exo-planet?
any one know?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_Ceti

Capt'n Midnight

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31001936

Astronomers say they have discovered a planet with a gigantic ring system that is 200 times larger than that around Saturn.

...
If Saturn's rings were the same size as those around J1407b, they would be easily visible from Earth at night and would be many times larger than a full Moon.

Time to update one of the Drake Equation constants

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-31002598

An ancient solar system similar to our own has been discovered by scientists.

Studying data from the Kepler telescope, the team, led by the University of Birmingham, found a star orbited by five planets similar in size to Earth.

The system, 117 light years away, is the oldest known of its kind, formed 11.2 billion years ago.

Dr Tiago Campante said it could provide a clue to "the existence of ancient life in the galaxy".

Rubecula

The first bit of info about the rings I saw on TV last night, the second piece of info has me drooling. Capt'n ye are a marvel for posting the most exciting bit of news I have seen on the forum for ages.

_Jumper_

Rubecula wrote: »

Capt'n ye are a marvel for posting the most exciting bit of news I have seen on the forum for ages.

Someone will be along in a bit to call it spam no doubt.