Polish astronomers at US observatory find most distant planet from Earth

A team of Polish astronomers from Warsaw University's Astronomy Institute have announced the discovery of the most distant planet from Earth. The finding was confirmed by international scientists during a congress of the American Astronomy Association. The "Polish" planet is located around 5,000 light years away from Earth and is slightly larger than Jupiter, however it is lighter. "It is a very interesting and, could be even called extreme, planetary system, because it has the shortest known orbital period, which means the planet circulates very closely to its star," said the chief researcher of the team, prof. Andrzej Udalski. The new planet, named O GLE-TR-56b, was discovered using a 1.3 meter diameter telescope at the American observatory in Las Campanas in Chile. Does it contain life? U nlikely. The planet is 17 times closer to its sun then the planet Mercury. On the side of the planet that permanently faces its sun means an average temperature of 1900 degrees centigrade, and toxic clouds of iron possibly rains down drops of liquid iron! (Rzeczpospolita, p. A1; Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 13) A.K.