One of the sun’s nearest neighbors—a star just 15 light-years from Earth—possesses a planet at least 1.6 times as massive as Jupiter.

References: 

Marcy, G.W. 1998. Precise stellar radial velocities. Meeting of the International Astronomical Union. June. Victoria, British Columbia.

Further Readings:

1996. One way into the hot seat. Science News 150(Nov. 23):328.

Cowen, R. 1997. C’est la vie. Science News 152(Nov. 1):284.

______. 1997. More planets. Science News 151(May 17):305.

Sources:

Geoffrey W. Marcy
University of California, Berkeley
Department of Astronomy
Berkeley, CA 94720

Didier Saumon
Vanderbilt University
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Nashville, TN 37235

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