First Pictures Taken of Extrasolar Planets
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.
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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.more
