A planet that is about twice the size of Jupiter has been discovered by a postgraduate student at Keele University. David Anderson found the planet, named WASP-17, some 1,000 light-years from Earth, orbiting a star the "wrong way". As planets form out of the same gas clouds that create stars, they normally orbit in the same direction that their star spins. WASP-17 is the first planet to be found orbiting the other way, an anomaly that may stem from a near-collision with another planet early in its life.
Keele University - Giant planet's strange spin
八月 20, 2009