Ground-Based Detection Paves Way to Remote Sensing of Small Exoplanets
Boston MA (SPX) Dec 02, 2014 - Astronomers have measured the passing of a super-Earth in front of a bright, nearby Sun-like star using a ground-based telescope for the first time. The transit of the exoplanet 55 Cancri e is the shallowest detected from the ground yet. Since detecting a transit is the first step in analyzing a planet's atmosphere, this success bodes well for characterizing the many small planets that upc ... more

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