More planets in the Universe - yay!

and here's an all-new story i wrote for ESA a few days ago... dedicated to all the fans of extra-solar planets - and little green men :-)

CoRoT unveils a rich assortment of new exoplanets

By detecting the faint dimming in the light emitted by stars during a transit event, CoRoT has detected six new exoplanets - each with its own peculiar characteristics - and one brown dwarf. One of these exoplanets, designated CoRoT-11b, has twice the mass of Jupiter and orbits a rapidly rotating star; this type of star is an extremely difficult target for exoplanet searches and its detection marks a significant achievement for the CoRoT team. More...

Image credits: CNES