QUB scientists in 'top 10' list

SuperWASP was developed by scientists from Queen's University

Scientists at Belfast's Queen's University who discovered four new planets have found themselves in a world "top 10" list.

American Time Magazine and CNN described their work as one of the top 10 science discoveries in the world this year.

Scientists put together a unique camera system called Superwasp.

Using Superwasp, Queens astronomers and colleagues in South Africa found the new planets.

They are all gas giants similar to our Jupiter.

These are planets outside our Solar System. They orbit their own stars, or suns, many of them in just a couple of days, unlike the Earth which takes a year to make a full orbit.

Indeed, some of the planets discovered so far are so close to their stars that their "surface" temperatures probably exceed 2000 degrees centigrade.

So there is little chance of life being present.