A bit curious
"It's a bit curious that this biggest planet took so long to confirm,"
Nah, they just needed to make sure it wasn't "[the other kind of planet]"
Good timing from GLR:
http://what-if.xkcd.com/150/
A team of astronomers led by NASA have discovered the largest circumbinary planet on record, according to the American Astronomical Society. The research has been accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal with Veselin Kostov, a NASA Goddard postdoctoral fellow, as lead author. Circumbinary planets are sometimes …
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Interestingly, about 40 per cent of circumbinary planets are found in habitable zones, said Doyle, who added, “I’d like to find out why.”
Not sure if "habitable" is likely to be the right word in the context of two stars orbiting each other every 11 days. Sounds like a car crash already happening.
If intelligent life evolved on a system like this, it would have a STRONG reason not just to get off-planet, but off-system.
I'm quite impressed with the technology behind such discoveries, but am a bit apprehensive that space exploration might be in the hands of an organisation that didn't already consider the universe to be awash with planets.
Then again, once the story has been sensationalised by their PR department, and later enhanced by those down the line, it is perhaps a little churlish to think that NASA scientists aren't spitting blood over their morning coffee as they read how small minded they are.