First Pictures Taken of Extrasolar Planets

[Ediacara]

Source: New York Times

By DENNIS OVERBYE
Published: November 13, 2008

In what might amount to an early Christmas present to the universe, two groups of astronomers have taken the first pictures of what they say — and other astronomers agree — are probably planets going around other stars.

The achievement, the result of years of effort on improved observational techniques and better data analysis, presages more such discoveries, the experts said, and will open the door to new investigations and discoveries of what planets are and how they came to be formed.

“It’s the tip of iceberg. Now that we know they are there, there is going to be an explosion,” said Christian Marois of the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics in Victoria, British Columbia. Dr. Marois is the leader of a team that recorded three planets circling a star — known as HR 8799 — 130 light-years away in the constellation Pegasus.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/14/science/space/14planet.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

---

A dust ring, seen in red, surrounds the star Fomalhaut, which is located at the
center of the image, but is not visible. The Hubble Telescope captured a fuzzy
image of the planet, known as Fomalhaut b, which is no more than a white speck
in the lower right portion of the dust ring that surrounds the star.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. That is so beautiful!

[Ediacara]

2. And to think, only like ten or so years ago, we weren't sure if exoplanets even existed

We've since discovered several hundred due to gravitational effects, and now we have photos.

PHOTOS!

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. imagine what we might be able to find 50 or 100 years from now? (Assuming, of course,

that we don't kill ourselves off before then.)

[proud progressive]

14. GRAVITY?! BITE YOUR TONGUE

LIKE EVOLUTION, GRAVITY IS ONLY A THEORY. UNTIL WE HAVE DEFINITIVE PROOF THAT EITHER EXISTS, YOU MUST ACCEPT THAT GOD DID ALL THIS ABOUT 6000 YEARS AGO. HOLY SCHMOLY, DO YA SUPPOSE HE MAY BE WORKIN-UP SOME SORT OF FIX FOR GENERAL MOTORS?

[sakabatou]

36. O NOES!!!!111eleventy

[Sophree]

21. It is amazing, isn't it? n/t

[Fumesucker]

37. Actually the first extrasolar planet was discovered in 1990..

http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/alex/pulsar_planets_text.html

The first planets orbiting a star other than the Sun were discovered around an old, rapidly spinning neutron star, PSR B1257+12, during a large search for pulsars conducted in 1990 with the giant, 305-m Arecibo radiotelescope.

[Sophree]

20. You should see some of the other stuff

Some of my favorites:

[opihimoimoi]

3. Holy Crap....I can see the damn thing from my Porch

[Ediacara]

4. I don't doubt it

Fomalhaut is a bright star (and "only" 25 ly away!).

[bobd0]

9. Wow, then you're qualified to be an astrophysicist at The Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics!

By some current standards anyway. ;)

[Bill McBlueState]

24. under the Palin doctrine, that makes you an expert n/t

[fascisthunter]

32. lol

[mikelgb]

6. that's the eye of sauron right?

[Ediacara]

7. That was my first thought as well

[EvolveOrConvolve]

10. Why does the Eye of Sauron look like

female genitalia?

[Nevernose]

12. LOL, I'm picturing Frodo in the depths of Mt. Doom

And screaming, "Hey, Sauron! Show us your boobs!"

Yes, my nerd chi is strong...

[TankLV]

16. Opps! I thought it was something - else...

I'm a bad bad boy...

[RedCloud]

8. That Black image in the center

looks like...

[IndianaJohn]

11. That's great...I love discoveries like that!

IMO, this brings us a step, albeit a tiny step, closer to establishing that life (even intelligent life) exists outside of our planet. I long for the day when we can be confident that we are not the 'center' of the universe (humancentrism?). Then maybe the need for religion will decline and we can start treating each other better (just dreaming.)

From believing the earth flat and the heavens so very close to realizing the earth is sphericalish and the stars distant, from geocentrism to heliocentrism to knowing we are but a tiny speck in an unbelievably large universe in no special location, man have our perspectives and attitudes changed and hopefully will continue to change.

[nolabear]

13. Welcome, Extrasolar Dudes!

I'd like to be the first to apologize for whatever we might do to you when we come for a visit. We're kinda cool, real scrappy if you like that sort of thing, and for God's sake don't feed us after midnight!

[burrowowl]

15. WOW!

A fraction of the money spent on the useless Raygun Star Wars crap would fund tons of discoveries like this! These discoveries is what makes us Homo Sapiens Sapiens!

Beautiful!

[Bill McBlueState]

25. that's an excellent point

People tend not to realize that NASA gets the biggest science return from the relatively low-budget projects. Hubble has given us nearly 20 years of service at a fraction of the cost of the military's various overseas adventures.

[Sophree]

42. A worthy use of tax dollars

NASA and what they've done with the Hubble is a worthy use of tax dollars, indeed!

[Haole Girl]

17. That looks like a black cat in the center of that dust ring

Does anybody else see that?

:shrug:

[Ediacara]

18. Yes

The cat is shield that blocks the star itself lessening the glare so we can actually see the dust and planet.

[Sophree]

19. Hubblesite

I just read that story on the Hubble Site today! I'm working on a multi-media project for school and my theme is based on all things Hubble.

If anyone has not visited http://hubblesite.org/ - well DO! It's awesome. The pictures are amazing. They have some pretty cool wallpaper, too.

[Peace Patriot]

22. Thanks for posting the Hubble site! Here's the best illustration/photo of the planet...

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2008/39/fastfacts/

Note the box in the lower righthand corner of the graphic, and the tiny square in the lower righthand area of the nebula.

[Bill McBlueState]

26. I'm surprised that photo...

didn't make it into the NYT version. It's much clearer than the one the ran with.

[Sophree]

29. Yes, I saw that!

It's just amazing.

Here's the video I watched about it:

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/video_lightbox.php?year=2008&id=39&video_id=a

[ps1074]

23. OH NO! The eye of Mordor

:scared:

[Fred_Flintstone]

27. Build a rocket

We should get to work immediately to build a rocket ship large enough to house the entire Bush administration and send them to rule these new lands.

[keepthemhonest]

28. fellow duer's Dad made the mirror for the hubble.

I love to see the pictures still coming in from the Hubble I usually send my Dad the most current link, to toot his horn.His name, Gene Peters and has been on hospice for 3 years(he says he is on the 9 yr plan,LOL) but I still marvel at some of the glass he created.

Way to go Dad.

[Sophree]

41. Wow, really?

That is so cool. Part of my project describes how the Hubble works- the mirrors. Do you think he'd enjoy seeing the project? It's a Powerpoint- has music and lots of great pictures. I can send you a link...

[keepthemhonest]

43. Thanks

I will go check it out right now.I am sure he will love that,I will send him a link.

[sofa king]

30. A question for physicists out there.

How long would it take to get to Formalhaut if one could accelerate to 30% c for most of the voyage? Both subjective and in earth-years, please.

[Posteritatis]

34. 83 years 4 months objective; 79 years 5 months subjective (nt)

[sofa king]

40. Thank you very much!

How hard is it to figure that sort of thing out?

[fascisthunter]

31. absolutely incredible

[DU GrovelBot]

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[Odin2005]

35. That is fricking amazing

Fomalhaut was one of the first stars found with proto-planetary disks, so this is very fitting. The star is pretty damn close to us, too, it's visible right now as the only bright star towards towards the southern horizon at this time of the year, hence it's nickname "The Lonely Star of Autumn."

The team first spied a pair of dots about four billion and six billion miles out from HR 8799 in October last year. Following up, they discovered a third planet closer in, at about two billion miles. Then they discovered an old observation from 2004, which also showed the planets and how far they had moved around the star in three years.

“Seeing the orbit is one of the coolest things,” Dr. Macintosh said.

:wow:

*Odin faints*

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

38. It's cool because Fomalhaut is an easy star to find in the night sky

Go outside around 7:30-8p.m. and look to the south.
You'll see a solitary bright star hanging low in the sky.
That's it. You can't miss it.
They call it "The Lonely Star of Autumn" for a reason.

(Just don't be distracted by the really bright Jupiter in the west-southwest, which is still hanging around temporarily)

[denem]

39. Sexual. Tres Obvious.

Vonnegut -The Space Fuck,.