First direct sighting of an extrasolar planet

[Dover]

First direct sighting of an extrasolar planet

11 January 2005
NewScientist.com news service
Maggie McKee

Astronomers have directly observed an extrasolar planet for the first time, but are at a loss to explain what they see.

More than 130 planets have been detected orbiting stars other than our own, the Sun. But because the stars far outshine the planets, all of the planets were detected indirectly - by how much they made their host stars wobble or dim, for example.

Now, astronomers say they are almost certain they have snapped an actual image of an extrasolar planet. It was first seen at infrared wavelengths with the Very Large Telescope in Chile in April 2004, and announced at the American Astronomical Society annual meeting in San Diego, California, US on Monday. It appeared alongside a brown dwarf - an astronomical object with a mass inbetween that of a planet and a star.

But astronomers could not immediately confirm that the planet was gravitationally linked to the brown dwarf. So in August 2004, researchers used the Hubble Space Telescope's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer to observe the pair again. And they found them in the same relative positions, as would be expected for objects in an estimated 2500-year orbit...cont'd

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6864

[Ian David]

1. We do all know that the planet was put there by the oil companies, right?

(I'm kidding).

[boneygrey]

2. Cool n/t

[politicaholic]

3. Finally, a place far enough away to put Dick Cheney.

[Old Mouse]

5. LOL

Thank you!

[mcscajun]

6. Yeah...but now it's not an 'undisclosed location'

:)

[bergamot]

4. Now we know.

So, that's where Saddam's weapons of mass destruction ended up.

[pmbryant]

7. Wow

I wasn't expecting this to happen quite so soon.

:thumbsup:

Peter