* Astronomy

This wide-angle photograph of the night sky shows the location of 55 Cancri, a star where astronomers have found a record-breaking five planets.
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Astronomers have announced the discovery of a fifth planet circling 55 Cancri, a star beyond our solar system. The star now holds the record for number of confirmed extrasolar planets orbiting in a planetary system.
55 Cancri is located 41 light-years away in the constellation Cancer and has nearly the same mass and age as our sun. It is easily visible with binoculars. Researchers discovered the fifth planet using the Doppler technique, in which a planet's gravitational tug is detected by the wobble it produces in the parent star. NASA and the National Science Foundation funded the research.
The newly discovered planet weighs about 45 times the mass of Earth and may be similar to Saturn in its composition and appearance. The planet is the fourth from 55 Cancri and completes one orbit every 260 days. Its location places the planet in the "habitable zone," a band around the star where the temperature would permit liquid water to pool on solid surfaces. The distance from its star is approximately 116.7 million kilometres, slightly closer than Earth to our sun, but it orbits a star that is slightly fainter.

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Three giant planets that sizzle as they circle their suns have been discovered in a faraway corner of the galaxy by a team of British astronomers.
The alien worlds are believed to be among the hottest planets ever spotted, with surface temperatures rising to more than 2500C as they pass their parent stars.

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The planets are all similar in size and composition to Jupiter, but orbit their stars so closely that their year is shorter than two days. They are unlikely to harbour life because of surface temperatures in excess of 2,000C (3,632F).
Two planets named Wasp4 and Wasp5 were identified using cameras in South Africa. Wasp3 was picked up by a camera in the Canary Islands. The team has also found two other exosolar planets in the northern hemisphere.
Coel Hellier, of Keele University, who led the study, said of Wasp4 and Wasp5: These two are now the brightest transiting planets in the southern hemisphere.

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