Exo Name Drop

The "Exo" in the name of all exoplanets discovered by CoRoT will now be dropped.
The new general rule is shown below:

::: change from CoRoT-Exo-nx to CoRoT-nx
::: with x = b, c, d...

Thus, what was previously called CoRoT-Exo-1b or CoRoT-Exo-2b will now be simply called CoRoT-1b and CoRoT-2b and so on.
Of course, I like to insist that the space be present between the digit and the index letter: CoRoT-1 b, CoRoT-2 b...
It was decided from a Scientific Council held on March 10, 2009. The authoritative Exoplanet Encyclopedia has now complied, as well as NASA's Planet Quest and Exoplanetology on Freebase. The Planetary Society has yet to update their catalog.
A word of assurance to those who are worried or iauphobic: All CoRoT planets are still exoplanets despite dropping the "exo" from their names. And undoubtedly, they are STILL planets. No plutogenous issues there.
So what's next? I have a hunch that another Scientific Council will be held to change all exoplanets names that have the prefix of HD, such as HD 80606 b, into Blu-Ray, making them like so: Blu-Ray 80606 b.

Walking on Super-Earth CoRoT-Exo-7 b

The suspense is over. Here is the latest Exoplanet Discovery: CoRoT-Exo-7 b. This discovery via transit method is not of an earth-like world just yet. But at least it's a super-earth because it's almost 11 times the mass of earth. And it's a little bit bigger than earth as well, having almost twice the earth's radius.
Now, in contrast to the recently reported exoplanet (HD 80606 b) which has a very eccentric orbit 0.927, CoRoT-Exo-7 b in turn has an almost perfect circular orbit around it's K-type star, having an Orbital Eccentricity equal to zero.
Now, with an orbital period of just 0.85 days or 20 hours, it must be whizzing around it's star so fast and mighty close to it's star. Hence it has a high temperature, between 1000 and 1500°C, still scorchingly hot by my standards.
I'm guessing that it might be tidally locked - meaning only one side faces it's sun. On the other hand, it could be spinning so fast, so my guess could go in both extremes.
Reports say that it is a terrestrial rocky world, and one can walk on it's surface, they say. Although, getting someone to get there and do it is another story, it is quite interesting to think about.
For starters, I would weigh a lot heavier in that exoplanet, and so I will get increasingly tired with each step. Upon which case, my foot would sink deep into it's molten lava surface. And the heat would be quite unbearable. And assuming it spins fast, day and night would alternate so much quicker than what i am accustomed to. However, if it was tidally locked, I would rather be on it's "dark side" because it's probably be much cooler in that region of the planet.
I might skip the stroll on this super-earth and take my chances on the discovery of an earth-like world soon, where it would be like a walk in the park.

CoRoT-Exo-7 b
Radius: between 1.75 and 2 Earth radius
Orbital period: 0.85 around a K star (T= 5300K)
Orbital Eccentricity: 0
Mass: less than 11 M_Earth

Links:
ESA News Release
CoRoT-Exo-7 b on Exoplanet Encyclopedia

Exoplanet Update for May 2008

And I thought May 2008 was going to end without any exoplanet discovery.

Here's the latest stats and info on exoplanet discoveries for May 2008:
Three new exoplanets come from the COROT mission, and one from a team of independent planet-hunters.

The 4 new exoplanets are:
1) CoRoT-Exo-3 b
2) CoRoT-Exo-4 b
3) CoRoT-Exo-5 b
4) XO-5 b

They have now all been added into the Freebase Exoplanet Database

The team that discovered XO-5 b includes Bruce L. Gary. If you remember, he wrote the free eBook for Amateur Exoplanetologists. The team used photometric and spectroscopic Methods to detect XO-5 b. For more details, here is the paper they submitted to the
Astrophysical Journal, as viewed in PDF from Arxiv:
http://fr.arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/0805/0805.2399v1.pdf

The COROT series of exoplanets was discovered by the french-led COROT mission.
COROT was launched atop the Soyuz from the Baikonour cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on December 2006. If you've watched Borat, you'll know where Kazakhstan is.
COROT is a CNES project with ESA participation. The other major partners in this mission are Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Germany and Spain.-