(PLANETQUEST) -- Astronomers have rung in the new year with several new exoplanet discoveries and observations. These latest announcements build upon the breakneck pace of last year, when 62 new planets were found, bringing the total planet count to 271.
Among the new discoveries:
Scientists observe light reflected from exoplanet
An international team of scientists announced that they were the first to observe visible starlight reflected and scattered by the atmosphere of a planet outside of our solar system.
Using the new information, astronomers have discovered that the atmosphere of the planet HD189733 b is so hot that it expands outwards to a size over one-third larger than the planet itself. The observations were made using a technique that captures polarized light reflected off of the planet's atmosphere, capturing and enhancing a star's glare. This method also enabled them to trace the orbit of the planet, which is not possible through indirect observations.
Astronomers find baby planet
Researchers with the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany have discovered the youngest extrasolar planet yet.
The newborn planet TW Hydrae b orbits a young star that's still surrounded by a disk of dust and hot gas - a planet nursery. The astronomers' discovery will help shed light into the planet-forming process, and how long it can take for the debris disk that surrounds a young star to coalesce into a solar system like our own.
CoRoT marks first year in orbit with new discovery
The European Space Agency's CoRoT planet-finding mission celebrated its first year in orbit with news of a new exoplanet find.
CoRoT-exo-2b is a giant planet 1.4 times larger and 3.5 times more massive than Jupiter in our own solar system. This sweltering planet takes less than two Earth days to complete an orbit of its star, which is more active, though a little cooler and bigger, than our own sun. The planet was observed as it passed between the CoRoT satellite and its host star. ESA scientists said they are pleased with the progress the mission has made this year and are looking forward to more discoveries as research continues.
