Illustration of the giant extrasolar planet 70 Virginis b.
Image details
Contributor:
Stocktrek Images, Inc. / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
C0DR65File size:
51.1 MB (1.3 MB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
4879 x 3660 px | 41.3 x 31 cm | 16.3 x 12.2 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
1 February 2011Photographer:
Walter Myers / Stocktrek ImagesMore information:
Extrasolar planet 70 Virginis b presides over the hot and airless terrain of a hypothetical moon. While it is not known if 70 Virginis b has rings, it is certainly possible. Saturn is the planet best-known for its rings of ice and stone, but all the other jovian planets in our solar system (Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune) have rings as well. 70 Virginis b's rings would have no ice in them due to is proximity to its sun. Such rings would likely be less than 100 million years old and could have been formed from the shattered remnants of an asteroid that wondered too close to this giant planet. 70 Virginis b's eccentric orbit would increase the likelihood of its encountering other objects in orbit around 70 Virginis. 70 Virginis b orbits 70 Virginis, a type G5V star (similar to our own sun), about 60 light years from the Earth. 70 Virginis b is believed to have over six times the mass of the planet Jupiter and orbits around its sun in an eccentric orbit once every 116 days. 70 Virginis b's average distance from its sun is about the same as that of the planet Mercury from our own sun.