Ancient planet discovered

Seamus wrote:
http://www.space.com/scienceastronom..._030710-1.html

You know, I am really amazed how the age of a 'planet'
can be determined through a telescope. 12.7 billion years
(I suppose that's 12.7 milliard years or 12.7 *10^9 years)
I mean, look at the Earth, we're practically sitting on
top of it, and guess the age of it to be what,
4.5 billion[1] years old?
We can take rocks from the surface and from the soil and
analyze them with different methods, but to determine it
through a telescope... at 7.200 lightyears away... mind
boggling.
But now, isn't a planet supposed to turn around a star?
As I understand, this one doesn't... or I didn't get the
meaning out of this report...


[1] using the US billion (milliard or 10^9)


--
Robi
(2.6#@ 2.5 yrs)