TrES Bien

Astronomers have found another new planet--and it's a big one:

TrES-4 was found by the Trans-atlantic Exoplanet Survey (TrES, pronounced "trace" as in Spanish) — a project using small, automated cameras to electronically monitor thousands of stars in selected patches of sky. Most unexpectedly, TrES-4 turns out to have a diameter 70% larger than Jupiter, even though it has only 84% of Jupiter's mass. That gives it an average density of 0.2 grams per cubic centimeter: a fifth the density of water, and about that of balsa wood.

We probably won't be visiting it any time soon--it's about 1,400 light years away.

For those keeping score, that comes to 249 extrasolar planets found thus far.