NASA's Kepler probe finds five strange new planets

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In what astronomers called an exciting step toward detecting Earth-like planets, a spacecraft operated by NASA's Ames Research Center has found five strange new planets, beginning to reveal how the structure of our solar system fits into the rest of the universe.

The five planets announced Monday by scientists working on the Kepler probe are an exotic bunch, one with a density as light as styrofoam. The large planets orbit so close to their stars that they may glow with the heat of a blast furnace, as hot as the boiling point of iron.

"It's certainly no place to look for life," said Bill Borucki, the principal investigator with the Kepler mission at Ames. "That will be coming later."

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[edit on 4-1-2010 by ufo reality]

This year is certainly going to be an exciting year for astronomy with that kepler probe flying around...

A planet as dense as Styrofoam?

I wonder what gravity would be like on a planet like that... Maybe you could jump into orbit.