• Question: Do you know of any unknown or little known about planets such as PSR B1620-26 b, that are outside our solar system

    Asked by nebula to Monique on 11 Nov 2015.
    • Photo: Monique Henson

      Monique Henson answered on 11 Nov 2015:


      There are lots of unknown planets outside of our solar system. Since they’re unknown, that means we don’t know about them (and that includes me!). I hadn’t heard of PSR B1620-26 b before you mentioned it, but it sounds really cool. Apparently it orbits around two stars – a pulsar and a white dwarf. It would be interesting to learn what effect the pulsar has on the planet (if any). Pulsars are usually highly magnetised and emit radiation at their poles. I’ve never even thought about what it must be like for planets near to them.

      Thanks for bringing it up! I wouldn’t have known about it otherwise.

Comments