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Narrowing Down the Hunt for Giant Exoplanets

Tuesday, February 19, 2013 9:20

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(Before It's News)

Extrasolar Planet (credit: ESO)

Despite advances in exoplanet research over the past decade much remains unknown. For example, how do the detection rates of giant planets vary as a function of the host star’s metal content? Are giant planets more frequent around massive stars? Do giant planets form under different mechanisms depending on the star’s metal content?

To that end team of astronomers led by Annelies Mortier and Nuno C. Santos explored what mathematical function characterizes the detection rate across a distribution of stars (i.e., from metal-rich to metal-poor objects). ”Finding the exact functional form of the metallicity-planet detection frequency will foster our understanding of both planet formation and the number of planets roaming the galaxy,” Santos told Universe Today.

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Read the rest of Narrowing Down the Hunt for Giant Exoplanets (439 words)