Scientists discover a new planet

The discovery of a new extrasolar planet that is a third as large again as Jupiter but has only half Jupiter's mass has astronomers' heads spinning once again as theories of planetary formation come crashing down to earth.

The new planet HAT-P-1 was spotted by a team at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Even more bizarre than its density apparently being that of cork, is that this enormous planet orbits its star at a distance a seventh of that of Mercury and takes less than a week to make its orbital journey.

Team member Robert Noyes says that the existence of this planet means there is a gap in our theories of planetary formation.