CoRoT-7b is an exoplanet discovered by the French-led space telescope CoRoT, launched in 2006, and announced in early 2009 as the smallest exoplanet with a measured size at that time, about one and three quarters of Earth's radius. It orbits a Sun-like star in the constellation Monoceros, around five hundred light-years away, completing an orbit in less than a day. It is extremely hot, with a surface that may be molten and a possible ocean of lava on the side facing the star. Follow-up measurements with the HARPS spectrograph estimated its mass at a few times that of Earth, making it one of the first rocky super-Earths confirmed, although the exact mass was debated.
Before and after
- 3 January 2009Release of Bitcoin
- 7 January 2009Premiere of Masha and the Bear
- 15 January 2009US Airways Flight 1549
- 20 January 2009First inauguration of Barack Obama
- 3 February 2009Discovery of COROT-Exo-7b
- from March 2009 to August 20102009 swine flu pandemic
- March 2009Release of Uber
- 7 March 2009Launch of Kepler Space Telescope
- 6 April 20092009 L'Aquila earthquake
More in Universe & space
- 22 June 1978Discovery of Charon
- 24 April 1990Launch of Hubble Space Telescope
- 1998Supernovae show that cosmic expansion is accelerating
- 20 November 1998Launch of International Space Station
- 10 April 2019The first image of a black hole
- 25 December 2021Launch of James Webb Space Telescope
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 21st century.