Dzhone t1_je524ao wrote
Damn! A three day year for that planet? That's so close to the sun.
hirsutesuit t1_je55hju wrote
Technically Venus goes through years faster than days (less than a Venus day per Venus year).
I know you're referencing Earth days when talking about the planet in the article, but it has days too!
Dzhone t1_je5r0go wrote
Ah, I see your point. It could have a larger orbit but just extremely long days
hirsutesuit t1_je5x0jm wrote
I don't think there's any way to actually determine the spin rate (day length) of exoplanets at this time so they would be talking about Earth days.
Also planets near stars are easier to spot so a super-short orbit is expected.
It can just be confusing which days we're talking about.
junktrunk909 t1_je55tjm wrote
Yeah it makes me excited because it's a reminder that we're in the frontier days, just starting to explore what's out there, and only currently focusing our telescopes on the most obvious likely planets, those with a steady and repeating orbit, which means they are short duration like this. Over time we'll broaden our search more and likely find many planets that are smaller and longer orbits, more earth like. So much exploring ahead!
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