Natural History Wanderings

There is a new holder of the record for smallest planet.  It is a small rocky planet named Kepler 37b and is just larger than earth’ s moon. The size of the planet was calculated by measuring its start using a technique called”astroseismology” which turns tiny variations in a star’s light into sounds. Kepler 37 is an exoplanet which means it exists outside our solar system.  It orbits its star in just 13 days. It may not hold its record for long as the record for smallest exoplanet is often broken as  astronomers are getting better at finding them.

Learn more at:  BBC News – Exoplanet Kepler 37b is tiniest yet – smaller than Mercury.