NASA captures first snapshop of planet outside our solar system

NASA has used the Hubble Space Telescope to capture the first visible-light image of a planet circling another star.  The planet, called Fomalhaut b, is estimated to be approximately three times Jupiter's mass and takes roughly 872 years to orbit the bright southern star Fomalhaut, located 25 light-years away in the constellation Piscis.  About 300 extrasolar planets have been discovered through indirect observations (e.g. by obstructing the light of stars) but this is the first to be viewed directly.  The planet is 10.7 billion miles from the star, or about 10 times the distance of the planet Saturn from our sun. -George

Comments

[jj mollo]

The little dot in the middle is puzzling me. The New York Times has a slightly different picture. I think the planet is supposed to be that little dot at 7 o'clock, 90% of the way to the edge of the dust cloud.

[George]

I saw that NYT image. I originally guessed, also, that the dot at 7 o'clock was the planet. Then, I went to the NASA site and they showed otherwise. The NASA site is the source of the graphic above. You can click on it and go to the NASA site. That spot at 7 o'clock is a background star.

[David Holliday]

Pretty cool. Now when can I book my ticket?

[jj mollo]

Ah, I see now. There's that little box above the big box. Combining that with the NYT animation, the planet is inside the dust cloud sweeping out a clean area with the help of solar wind. The way they know which dot to look at is the fact that it has moved over time. The curve of the movement gives them information about the size and distance?

[jj mollo]

David, It's twenty-five light-years away. Unless we find that worm-hole all the SF authors are talking about, it's going to be a while. I suspect, though, that lots of people would be willing to sell you a ticket. How much are you willing to pay?

[George]

Imagine if we could travel near the speed of light and the planet were inhabitable. Would you be willing to live in space for 25 years to get there?

Do we even have the technology to communicate at such a distance? If you transmitted a message, you would have to wait 50 years for a response.

[jj mollo]

Well, theoretically, time dilation could reduce the subjective time experience for the traveler. Still, it wouldn't help with the communication delay.