1.   And, to the surprise and puzzlement of astronomers, the planet is closer to its parent star than tiny Mercury is to the Sun.

2.   Astronomers spot them by detecting the wobble they create in the light from their parent stars.

3.   Because it is so well separated from its parent stars, it should be possible to make spectroscopic observations of it.

4.   But detecting these broad disks has been easier than finding planets, relatively small objects obscured by the bright light of their parent stars.

5.   First came word of Jupiter-sized worlds that roast improbably close to their parent stars.

6.   Its presence is indicated by the gravitational tug on its parent star, which causes it to wobble enough to be recorded in spectrographic measurements of the faint starlight.

7.   The dozen or so extrasolar planets discovered so far have been detected indirectly because their gravity makes their parent stars wobble.

8.   The existence of those planets was inferred by observing a wobble in their parent stars.

9.   The few extrasolar planets found in recent years have not been observed directly, only inferred from their gravitational effects on their parent stars.

10.   The object is about half as massive as Jupiter and is so close to its parent star that it must be too hot to support life.