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Extrasolar planets

Giant giants or dwarf dwarfs?

An object at least 17 times the size of Jupiter, discovered orbiting a Sun-like star, has astronomers scratching their heads. Is it a giant planet or a failed star?

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Figure 1: Pattern of discoveries for gas giant planets and brown dwarf stars found orbiting nearby stars similar to our Sun.

Notes

  1. *197th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, San Diego, California, USA, 7–11 January 2001.

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Correspondence to Alan P. Boss.

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Boss, A. Giant giants or dwarf dwarfs?. Nature 409, 462–463 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35054155

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