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The First Confirmed Photo of an Alien Planet

by Terrence O'Brien on July 1, 2010 at 03:30 PM

Alien Planet Photographed
It's not much to look at. This photo from the Gemini Observatory in 2008 lacks the "wow" factor of the Hubble Deep Field, but tihs may be just as important. This image, primarily of the star 1RSX J160929.1-210524, is the first confirmed photograph of an extra-solar planet (or exoplanet) orbiting a sun-like star.

Normally, exoplanets are detected through indirect methods, such as the gravitational wobble they impart on their host stars. Other astronomers have captured images of what appear to be planets, but -- since evidence is inconclusive -- those photos could simply be showing two distant and unrelated bodies that happened to be aligned, or a failed star known as a brown dwarf.

The planet in this image (the tiny orange dot near the top) is roughly eight-times the size of Jupiter, and orbits its star from a distance 300 times greater than that between Earth and the Sun. The system is 500 light-years away, and the star at its center is similar to the Sun (about 85-percent the size), but much younger. The images also confirm that there are no other Jupiter-sized (or larger) planets in that orbit, leaving plenty of room between the two bodies for Earth-like, rocky planets. [From: Space.com, via: Geekosystem]

Tags: astronomy, exoplanet, exploration, gemini observatory, GeminiObservatory, hubbledeepfield, planet, science, SolarSystem, space, top

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