The planet orbits the pulsar that two years before the first normal planet (ie orbiting an active sun), three other planets orbiting it were discovered.
Avi Blizovsky
American astronomers say they have discovered the smallest planet outside the solar system to date. The new world, which is about a fifth the size of Pluto, is the fourth planet discovered around the pulsar PSR B1257+12. The pulsar is about 1,500 light years from Earth.
A pulsar is a rapidly spinning neutron star that emits bright radiation. The planet orbits the pulsar within the cloud of hot, charged particles. The discovery was made by Alex Welchen. Wolszczan from the University of Pennsylvania, and Konacki from Caltech. Details of the work were announced at an astronomical conference held in Aspen, Colorado.
Pulsars are formed as a result of the cores of supergiant stars collapsing after they have ended their lives and exploded. The orbit of the new planet is similar to the distance of the asteroid belt from the Sun. The orbits of the other three planets orbiting the same pulsar and which were discovered back in 1992 were in similar proportions to the distances of Mercury, Venus and Earth from the Sun. The two researchers say that the new planet symbolizes fire the boundary of the system, as Pluto symbolizes the edge of our solar system. According to him, the discovery indicates that Earth-sized planets are relatively common
The new planet was discovered using the giant radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico.
