demonvamp
Member
|
# Posted: 1 Apr 2005 17:38
Reply
Photo marks milestone in planet search
Confirmed image shows hot planet near distant star
The bright young star GQ Lupi is at the center of this image, and the outlying planet can be seen to the right, labeled "b."
The planet is thought to be one to two times as massive as Jupiter. It orbits a star similar to a young version of our sun.
The star, GQ Lupi, has been observed by a team of European astronomers since 1999. They have made three images using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile. The Hubble Space Telescope and the Japanese Subaru Telescope each contributed an image, too.
The work was led by Ralph Neuhaeuser of the Astrophysical Institute & University Observatory.
"The detection of the faint object near the bright star is certain," Neuhaeuser told Space.com on Friday.
The system is young, so the planet is rather warm, like a bun fresh out of the oven. That warmth made it comparatively easier to see in the glare of its host star compared with more mature planets. Also, the planet is very far from the star — about 100 times the distance between Earth and the sun, another factor in helping to separate the light between the two objects.
Read all
QD, would you look at that, folks! 
|
