70 Virginis
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70 Virginis b was one of two planets announced by Marcy and Butler in early 1996. The announcement swelled the ranks of then known extrasolar planets to three. Not as brutally hot as 51 Pegasi b and not as cold as 47 Ursae Majoris b, 70 Virginis b was believed to exist in a more temperate orbit that might have allowed liquid water to form on its moons. This fact led the planet to be unofficially dubbed "Goldilocks" by its discoverers.
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70 Virginis B
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70 Virginis B Statistics
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But ten years and one hundred and fifty planets later, studies of temperature and atmospheric structure paint a different view of 70 Vir b. Gone are visions of Earth-like moons orbiting a superjovian with a banded, cloudy atmosphere. With an average temperature of 477 K, the planet is too hot for water to form clouds and too cold for silica to condense. Thus, 70 Vir b is a Goldilocks of a different kind, a cloudless blue world looking more like Neptune than Jupiter. |
The inner moons, cooked and tortured by the tidal forces and intense radiation belts of 70 Virginis b, would probably resemble Mercury or the Moon. Their heavily cratered silicate surfaces would be inhospitable. But farther out, and perhaps shielded by their own magnetic fields, worlds more like Mars or Earth may lie. These more massive moons may have thin atmospheres of Nitrogen. Far from breathable for humans, such worlds may still have enough mass and atmospheric pressure to contain small lakes or seas of water. In such seas, warmed by the nearby sun, the slow crawl of biological evolution may be taking place.
Upsilon Andromedae C
Upsilon Andromedae C Statistics
| Object Type: | Lifeless Gas Giant |
| Parent Star: | 70 Virginis (G4V) |
| Discovery Status: | Confirmed |
| Mass : | 6.0 Jupiters |
| Average Distance: | 0.52 AUs |
| Orbital Period: | 154.29 Days |
| Year Discovered: | September 2007 |
| Detection Method: | Interstellar Travel - Bi-Location |
| Discovered By: | Wingmaker 732 |
Planetary Orbit Around 70 Virginis
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