Date: Thu, 06 Feb 2014 21:41:10 -0500
From: mark <whitroth at 5-cent.us>
To: "gt-pfrc at ml.gt.org" <gt-pfrc at ml.gt.org>,
 WSFA Official List <wsfa-forum at yahoogroups.com>,
 WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>,
 bsfsgeneral <bsfsgeneral at bsfs.org>
Subject: [WSFA] Wobbly planet
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

Excerpt:
  Planets normally stick to a regular pattern, but not Kepler-413b.

Its erratic progress in the Cygnus solar system, 2,300 light years away,
has astonished experts at the American space agency.
<...>
  The planet was discovered by the Kepler telescope which watches how stars
are dimmed as something passes in front of them.

Normally planets behave like clockwork, transiting in front of the star
and blocking the light.

But Kepler 413-b behaves rather differently.

"Looking at the Kepler data over the course of 1,500 days, we saw three
transits in the first 180 days – one transit every 66 days,” said Veselin
Kostov, the principal investigator on the observation.

“Then we had 800 days with no transits at all. After that, we saw five
more transits in a row."
--- end excerpt ---

<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/10622263/Wobbly-planet-perplexes-scientists.html>

I propose it be named Joe Hill (the famous Wobbly....)

        mark