ts, just to get more information on this scenario.
To their credit, the astronomers involved are also clear about this in their paper announcing the discovery. This is a carefully done observations, and they are appropriately careful in their announcement.
But if it’s true… WOW. This would be the second planet ever seen directly in an image, and the first to orbit a star like the Sun. The implications would profound. It would be direct evidence of planets orbiting other stars at great distances. It would mean there could be another planet in our own solar system (unlikely, but I’ve written about that before). And it would mean that it’s possible to use this method of near-infrared mapping to actually get pictures of more planets! Seeing one might be a fluke, seeing two means there are more to find.
The next clear night, do yourself a favor: go outside. Look up. See all those stars? Whether or not this particular planet pans out, we still know that a large fraction of those stars — 10%? 20? — may have planets. And some fraction of those may have planets like Earth orbiting them. We really weren’t sure about this even 15 years ago, and now we’re able to not only start plugging numbers into the equations, but we can actually take pictures of some of these objects.
My oh my. How I do love science.
Links to this Post
- Discovery of a Planet around a Sun like Star? « Harmonic Guru | September 15, 2008
- Primeira foto de um planeta em outro sistema solar? « idealismo de buteco | September 15, 2008
- Planet imaged around a sunlike star?! - The Michael Jackson Internet Fan Club | September 15, 2008
- Discovery Space: Space Disco | September 15, 2008
- Das erste Bild eines extrasolaren Planeten? at AntiTerra | September 15, 2008
- Stochastic Scribbles » Blog Archive » Image of planet around Sun-like star? | September 15, 2008
- For Dads » Blog Archive » Astronomy Search Engine Results | September 16, 2008
- oranchak.com » Blog Archive » links for 2008-09-16 | September 16, 2008
- Exoplanet imaged around Sun-like star « The Planetologist | September 16, 2008
- Objeto não identificado e novo planeta agitam a semana | PostMania | September 16, 2008
- Exoplanet Picture « IBY’s Island Universe | September 17, 2008
- Arnold Patrick Martin - Metalsmith » Extra-solar planets | September 23, 2008
- HUGE EXOPLANET NEWS ITEMS: PICTURES!!! | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine | November 13, 2008
- mental_floss Blog » Morning Cup of Links: Sleeping Giraffe | June 22, 2009
- Bio 103, Lecture/Discussion Notes | Serendip's Exchange | October 26, 2009