New planet found orbiting old star

STATE COLLEGE, Pa., Nov. 24 (UPI) -- A new planet closely orbiting a red giant star was found by a team of astronomers from Penn State University and Nicolaus Copernicus University.

The research sheds light on ways in which aging stars can influence nearby planets, Penn State said in a news release.

The discovered planet has a mass about six times that of Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system that includes Earth, said Alexander Wolszczan from Penn State and Andrzej Niedzielski of Nicolaus Copernicus University.

Team members said they suspects that a second planet may be orbiting the red giant star, researchers said.

"When red giant stars expand, they tend to eat up the nearby planets," Wolszczan said. "Although the planet we discovered conceivably could be closer to the star without being harmed by it, there appears to be a zone of avoidance around such stars."

Wolszczan said it was important for researchers to learn why planets don't want to get closer to stars, "so one of our next steps is to try to figure out why this zone of avoidance exists and whether it occurs around all red giant stars."