I finally found Gliese 581 (Star with Exoplanets) in Google Sky (It's not listed in the database)!

Whew! It took hours of straight looking, but it was worth it! It's not listed in the database, so I had to manually scour the area using the coordinates, which was literally like finding a needle in a haystack. Enjoy!













And this snapshot:



...Matches up with the official picture:



Here are the coordinates, but good luck finding it. That's why I gave these pictures as well: as reference points. Happy hunting!

15h 19m 26s, −07° 43′ 20″

Edited to fix the scaling of a pic...

Edited topic once again.

[edit on 10/16/2009 by impaired]

And for those who don't know, Gliese 581 is a red dwarf that's about 20 light-years away. So far, 4 extrasolar planets have been discovered orbiting it - and one of them (Gliese 581 d) is in the habitable zone.

Seeing how lost Gliese 581 gets in the mix, is it safe now to assume that there are indeed billions (or more) extrasolar planets out there???

[edit on 10/16/2009 by impaired]

reply to post by impaired

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Congrats on the find man, nice work! S&F for you.

Thanks dude! I'm now working on HR 8799 (AKA HD 218396). This is the only star that has exoplanets that have been directly viewed (the planets themselves).

I actually found it, but I don't see the planets. Or maybe I do, but there are other stars in the background... Maybe you guys can help? This is fun!!!!



And here's the official pic. Those dots around it are the planets b, c, and d... But it seems this official pic is in infrared (I think, or something of the sort), so I don't think we'll be able to see them in Google Earth. But it doesn't hurt to try! I'm hoping someone with a better eye can perhaps match the planets with the pic:





Edit: Nah, there's another Star with directly imaged exoplanets. I'll get to that tomorrow. It's 8am and I'm still up!

[edit on 10/16/2009 by impaired]

I suggest you change the title of your thread - somerthing like;

Star with exo-planets - google pics

Something like that would give people some idea.

Good idea. Thanks. Will do.

reply to post by impaired

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Nice find. I've never really used Google Sky before myself, nor Google Earth. I'll have to get on that one of these days. Fortunately for me, Gliese 581 was a snap to find in Celesta's database... and I'm using an out of date version. Updated star listings and info are often compiled and added via the MotherLoad add-on site. So if you frequently use Google Sky for other functions, perhaps Celestia can help point you in the direction of a few of the harder to locate stars. (It's a free download, btw)

Gliese 581/Wolf 562 from the vantage point of "c".


The orbits of 581 c, b, d.


The view of Earth, from Gliese 581 c.

reply to post by Lasheic

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Celestia's cool and all (actually very cool), but it's just not real images. It is, however, a great way to triangulate (like you said) and to see it all from a 3d-perspective (which of course Google Sky could never do).

I can't wait for the day that we get the tech to be able to have a Celestia that's with actual images. That would kick ass!

reply to post by impaired

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Yeah. It'd be nice if (in future versions) perhaps a plug-in app from (or with approval of) Google will allow Celestia to pre-fetch images of stars from a database like you'd get in Google Sky. Either as a pop-up thumbnail or optional billboard texture until you zoom in close enough for it to render a model.

In the meantime, you can right-click on a selection and select info. This opens your browser and directs it automatically to the selection's database entry.

Star Gl 581 Notes page.

From there you can find out pretty much damned near everything we have available on it. Photos, detailed physical descriptions, coordinates, and catalogs of peer-review literature to browse, past missions, etc.

In some instances, real images are used for texture maps of the planets, with some geographic features requiring alternate models to fit the skin to. So you can fly around Olympic Mons and (I believe) dip down into Valles Marineris to a degree. It all depends on how much you're willing to download and if your computer can handle it. Those texture packs can get up to 500mb or larger.

There are some "billboard" textures for nebulae and galaxies which show actual images, but since you can't explore them in 3D, you're always going to be seeing an "Earth" angle 2D view.