Scientists directly image planets orbiting star

How amazing is this!

The era of directly imaging exoplanets has only just begun, but the science and viewing pleasures to come are appealingly apparent. This evocative movie of four planets more massive than Jupiter orbiting the young star HR 8799 is a composite of sorts, including images taken over seven years at the W.M. Keck observatory in Hawaii.


HR 8799 is 129 light years away in the constellation of Pegasus. By coincidence, it is quite close to the star 51 Pegasi, where the first exoplanet was detected in 1995. It is less than 60 million years old, Wang said, and is almost five times brighter than the sun.

Linky: Many Worlds

We are definitely starting to get real optical images from exo-planets orbiting other stars! . Most all have been previously discovered by sensing the brightening and dimming of stars as planets eclipse them. This is the real deal here... and the luck of being able to get a top-down view, that would have not been possible to detect any planets around this star using the eclipsing method. Fantastic!

a reply to: charlyv

That is awesome! But I have to ask, if it takes that many years and the planet has not orbited the star yet, how far from the star are those planets?

originally posted by: 3daysgone
a reply to: charlyv

That is awesome! But I have to ask, if it takes that many years and the planet has not orbited the star yet, how far from the star are those planets?

There is a scale at the bottom of the video, which shows a line that is 20 AU (Earth-Sun distances). It appears that the planets are from 10 to up to 100 or more AU from the star. What a fantastic accomplishment this is!.

a reply to: charlyv

I agree it is a great accomplishment. It enables the sciences a visual video in which to test their theories.

originally posted by: 3daysgone
a reply to: charlyv

I agree it is a great accomplishment. It enables the sciences a visual video in which to test their theories.

It sure is. I was looking at the age... only 60 Million years old. We had dinosaurs only 65 million years ago, in our age of over 4 billion years. So this is a young, young system. If we could get any resolution, it would probably show huge nebulous rings in the orbits of these planets that coalesced out of them. The planets are suspected to be giant gas balls and one would wonder if they too would eventually coalesce as well. A remarkable video showing the advanced birth of a solar system.

a reply to: charlyv

We are on the cusp of many such discoveries!

When JWST is launched next year we will see stories like this all the time!

I would have thought at 129 light years away the results would have never been so astounding much less actual planets seen.. S&F and thanks for posting

a reply to: charlyv

Edited...Nevermind, the star is only that old. Renders my thought useless.

originally posted by: TEOTWAWKIAIFF
a reply to: charlyv

We are on the cusp of many such discoveries!

When JWST is launched next year we will see stories like this all the time!

Great point. We will also probably have much greater resolution than the above. I cannot wait to see them!

SCIENCE!!!!!!!!!!!

It's amazing how technology is growing leaps and bounds. Pretty soon we won't be just seeing planets in another solar system through a telescope. We'll be visiting them.

Well done.

a reply to: charlyv

This is the real deal here... and the luck of being able to get a top-down view, that would have not been possible to detect any planets around this star using the eclipsing method.

How do you know it isn't a bottom-up view?

The animation is cool. The first observation was in 2008.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov...

a reply to: charlyv

This is a major step forward. Imagine what civilizations more advanced than our can see when pointing their direct-imaging devices at Earth. They can probably see the manmade "stuff" orbiting our planet and understand that somewhat intelligent beings live here.

But, they couldn't be more than 50 light years away, or there'd be nothing to see. Kinda reduces the number of potential planets that can see evidence of "man" quite a bit, doesn't it?

So, they have a telescope that they focused on this star for five years to get that image. I really don't think that is probable, It would have to be out in space, and the telescope would have to be autocorrecting all the time just to keep the image.

That is probably a computer enhanced generated assimilation of multiple images of a tiny dot with activity around it. Would it be cost effective to put the hubble telescope trained on that dot for five years? They are constantly lending out access of the hubble to groups to look at different things.

A ground based image would not be able to get that clear of an image and even then the computer would be needed to enhance and position the image and actually blow it up.

We do have good telescopes out there, but that little video would not be possible without a lot of fill ins because they have lots to look at out there and telescopes are very expensive.

It is probably a good representation but that is about all it would be.

I could be wrong but I doubt it.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: charlyv

This is the real deal here... and the luck of being able to get a top-down view, that would have not been possible to detect any planets around this star using the eclipsing method.

How do you know it isn't a bottom-up view?

The animation is cool. The first observation was in 2008.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov...

That's funny Phage!

Talk about dilligence, these guys using the Keck for seven straight years to get this movie of an infant solar system.

Who will work on getting us there?

a reply to: rickymouse

Read the site and look up the Keck. They took multiple images optically, and framed them into the obvious movie, blotting out the glare of the star, and had to adjust for gain and seeing conditions to get such a presentation. It is phenomenal.

BTW: Phage's link shows the start of the project. Serious science!

a reply to: rickymouse

So, they have a telescope that they focused on this star for five years to get that image

No.

A ground based image would not be able to get that clear of an image and even then the computer would be needed to enhance and position the image and actually blow it up.

You are incorrect. Adaptive optics are quite effective.

The thing is, they are very large planets, very far from their star (which is quite bright).

originally posted by: InTheLight
Who will work on getting us there?

If we could do that, there are other places I would want to go first
These are currently balls of gas, what they can see... Who knows what it really looks like.

originally posted by: charlyv

originally posted by: InTheLight
Who will work on getting us there?

If we could do that, there are other places I would want to go first

These are currently balls of gas, what they can see... Who knows what it really looks like.

I don't want my future generation living precariously.

a reply to: InTheLight

I don't want my future generation living precariously.

In spite of our wishes, that has always been our fate. Colonization (of continents or planets) doesn't change that. In fact, those who venture forth risk more than those who do not.