Planet Discovered Orbiting 51 Pegasi

In the October 21, 1995 issue of Science News, astronomers Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz working with the Geneva Observatory in Switzerland reported the discovery of a planet orbiting the nearby sunlike star known as 51 Pegasi. This star is located 40 light years away.

The planet is believed to be at least half as massive as Jupiter, and is orbiting its parent star 20 times closer than the Earth orbits the Sun, making its year only 4.3 Earth days. As a result, it is likely orbiting within the star's corona and is suspected to have a surface temperature of approximately 1000 degrees C.

The planet has been unofficially dubbed "Bellerophon" by Geoffrey Marcy, one of the astronomers who confirmed the planet's existence a week later. Bellerophon was a Greek hero who rode the winged horse Pegasus to slay the fire-breathing Chimera.