Tiassa
11-13-08, 10:49 PM
Source: Bad Astronomy (http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/)
Link: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/11/13/huge-exoplanet-news-items-pictures/
Title: "Huge Exoplanet News Items: Pictures!", by Phil Plait
Date: November 13, 2008
Some scientists are really, really excited. Phil Plait, the author, for instance. And quite obviously:
This is incredible: For the first time, ever, astronomers have captured an optical image of a planet orbiting a star like our own.
And that’s not all: we also have a second picture showing TWO planets orbiting a second star!
(Calm down. Breathe, breathe.)
(Plait (http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/11/13/huge-exoplanet-news-items-pictures/))
And here's the even better part: The images come from the Hubble Telescope and the Gemini North 8m telescope. The Hubble image, of a planet currently described as Fomalhaut b, is estimated at 200 million years old, and is a mere—by astronomical standards—25 light years out. It orbits the star Fomalhaut, visible to the naked eye in Piscis Astrinus, at a distance of approximately 18 billion km; its orbital period is determined to be 872 years. Meanwhile, 130 light years away, two planets have been imaged orbiting HR 8799 at distances of 6b and 10.5b km. Plait reports that a third planet is confirmed, but not yet imaged, orbiting some 3.8b km from the star.
Plait explains:
OK, now that you have the news, a few caveats. We now know of more than 300 planets orbiting other stars. And a planet has been imaged before (http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2005/04/29/first-exoplanet-imaged/), but it was orbiting a brown dwarf, which is different than a normal star like the Sun. Brown dwarfs are so-called "failed stars", much smaller than the Sun. Another possible planet orbiting a sun-like star has been imaged (http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/09/15/planet-imaged-around-a-sunlike-star/), but has not yet been confirmed. So these images here really are firsts. They are history.
(ibid)
For planetary astronomers, this is huge news. And, indeed, those planetary astronomers who have senses of dream and romance—these are not as rare as some might think—are already looking forward to the next big milestone:
In a few years, we’ll have more pictures like these. And we’ll get better. Our telescopes will get bigger, our equipment more sensitive, our techniques improved as we understand their capabilities. And the pictures of other planets will roll in.
How long before we see the Holy Grail, the first image of a terrestrial planet, orbiting a star like the Sun at just the right distance for liquid water to bathe its surface? It may not be for a decade or two, but mark my words: that day will arrive. And when it does, well, we’ll just have to rewrite the history books again, won’t we?
(ibid)
What? I think it's pretty damn cool, too.
Link: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/11/13/huge-exoplanet-news-items-pictures/
Title: "Huge Exoplanet News Items: Pictures!", by Phil Plait
Date: November 13, 2008
Some scientists are really, really excited. Phil Plait, the author, for instance. And quite obviously:
This is incredible: For the first time, ever, astronomers have captured an optical image of a planet orbiting a star like our own.
And that’s not all: we also have a second picture showing TWO planets orbiting a second star!
(Calm down. Breathe, breathe.)
(Plait (http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/11/13/huge-exoplanet-news-items-pictures/))
And here's the even better part: The images come from the Hubble Telescope and the Gemini North 8m telescope. The Hubble image, of a planet currently described as Fomalhaut b, is estimated at 200 million years old, and is a mere—by astronomical standards—25 light years out. It orbits the star Fomalhaut, visible to the naked eye in Piscis Astrinus, at a distance of approximately 18 billion km; its orbital period is determined to be 872 years. Meanwhile, 130 light years away, two planets have been imaged orbiting HR 8799 at distances of 6b and 10.5b km. Plait reports that a third planet is confirmed, but not yet imaged, orbiting some 3.8b km from the star.
Plait explains:
OK, now that you have the news, a few caveats. We now know of more than 300 planets orbiting other stars. And a planet has been imaged before (http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2005/04/29/first-exoplanet-imaged/), but it was orbiting a brown dwarf, which is different than a normal star like the Sun. Brown dwarfs are so-called "failed stars", much smaller than the Sun. Another possible planet orbiting a sun-like star has been imaged (http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/09/15/planet-imaged-around-a-sunlike-star/), but has not yet been confirmed. So these images here really are firsts. They are history.
(ibid)
For planetary astronomers, this is huge news. And, indeed, those planetary astronomers who have senses of dream and romance—these are not as rare as some might think—are already looking forward to the next big milestone:
In a few years, we’ll have more pictures like these. And we’ll get better. Our telescopes will get bigger, our equipment more sensitive, our techniques improved as we understand their capabilities. And the pictures of other planets will roll in.
How long before we see the Holy Grail, the first image of a terrestrial planet, orbiting a star like the Sun at just the right distance for liquid water to bathe its surface? It may not be for a decade or two, but mark my words: that day will arrive. And when it does, well, we’ll just have to rewrite the history books again, won’t we?
(ibid)
What? I think it's pretty damn cool, too.