In:
Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Vol. 330, No. 6004 ( 2010-10-29), p. 653-655
Abstract:
The questions of how planets form and how common Earth-like planets are can be addressed by measuring the distribution of exoplanet masses and orbital periods. We report the occurrence rate of close-in planets (with orbital periods less than 50 days), based on precise Doppler measurements of 166 Sun-like stars. We measured increasing planet occurrence with decreasing planet mass ( M ). Extrapolation of a power-law mass distribution fitted to our measurements, d f /dlog M = 0.39 M −0.48 , predicts that 23% of stars harbor a close-in Earth-mass planet (ranging from 0.5 to 2.0 Earth masses). Theoretical models of planet formation predict a deficit of planets in the domain from 5 to 30 Earth masses and with orbital periods less than 50 days. This region of parameter space is in fact well populated, implying that such models need substantial revision.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
0036-8075
,
1095-9203
DOI:
10.1126/science.1194854
Language:
English
Publisher:
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Publication Date:
2010
detail.hit.zdb_id:
128410-1
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2066996-3
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2060783-0
SSG:
11