August 30, 2005

(PLANETQUEST) -- Scientists announced the discoveries of six new extrasolar planets during the latter half of August, found at distances ranging from 20 to 289 light-years from Earth, according to information posted on the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia website.

The largest is about 1.6 times as massive as Jupiter. The smallest is about as massive as Uranus, or about 14 times the mass of Earth. The planets orbit their parent stars at distances ranging from 10 million to 3 million miles (16 million to 5 million kilometers) -- much closer than the distance at which Mercury orbits our sun.

The new planets are described in papers submitted to the European journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. More details on these discoveries will be reported on this site as they become available.