Planet Found Using Einstein's "Beaming Effect"

Astronomers have announced the discovery of Kepler-76b — a "hot Jupiter" that takes only 1.5 days to complete an orbit around its star. Unofficially, however, Kepler-76b has been nicknamed "Einstein's planet" as it was discovered using a novel method that applies a weird relativistic effect as theorized by Albert Einstein.

Usually, NASA's Kepler space telescope looks for the very slight dips in starlight brightness as exoplanets orbit in front of their host stars from our perspective. Kepler is revolutionizing exoplanetary studies as it is sensitive to the detection of tiny worlds, which is only possible owing to the mission's advanced optics.

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