BBC NEWS | Health | Telescope detects odd-ball object

BBC NEWS | Health | Telescope detects odd-ball object: "The European planet-hunter Corot has spotted an object orbiting a star that is quite unlike anything seen before.

It is about the size of Jupiter, but packs more than 20 times the mass.

Scientists say they are not sure if the object is a planet or a type of failed star known as a brown dwarf - neither description really seems to fit.

The Corot orbiting observatory detected the object by the way it dimmed the light of its parent star as it moved in front of its disc, as seen from Earth.

The odd-ball has been designated Corot-exo-3b. It takes just four days and six hours to orbit its parent star, which is slightly larger than our Sun."