Jun 2, 2008

Hoax suspected in Wikipedia "Extrasolar planets" entry

I found the following new entry on Wikipedia in the "Extrasolar planets" article :
"2008, announcement of 45 new planets
On May 28, Dr. Sara Seager and other IAU members in Boston, Massachusetts announced 45 new planets orbiting around nearby stars, all with masses less than one-tenth Jupiter mass. These were detected by the gravitational tug method using the HARPS located in La Silla, Chile. The discoveries represented a significant increase in the numbers of known super-earths. Astronomers suggest that such low-mass planets may outnumber the Jupiter-like planets by 3 to 1.[51] "


This sounds very much like a hoax to me, since this article was entered on the 8th of May and is backed by no reference link or other scientific announcement from the corresponding sources...

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm sorry, but it is not a hoax.
See exoplanet.eu on June 16

Unknown said...

I can't possibly look at a website on the 16th June when we are on the 2d June, I can't read the FUTURE web, yet, alas !
So I checked the exoplanet.eu site and I see the latest update is from 19th may and reports one single new transiting planet XO-5 b, not 45 on the 28th of May, as Wikipedia wrongly reports !
Curiously, no other website reports the find either.
So I have to confirm it is a hoax, unfortunately !

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