Yay! First image of alien planet confirmed

[Prolescum]

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/first-alien-planet-photographed-confirmed-100629.html

A planet outside of our solar system, said to be the first ever directly photographed by telescopes on Earth, has been officially confirmed to be orbiting a sun-like star, according to follow-up observations.

The alien planet is eight times the mass of Jupiter and orbits at an unusually great distance from its host star , more than 300 times farther from the star than our Earth is from the sun.

Astronomers first discovered the planet in 2008 using visible light observations from telescopes on Earth, making it the first direct photo of an extrasolar world. But at the time there was still the remote chance that it only looked like it was orbiting the star, from the perspective of Earth, due to a lucky alignment of object, star and observer.

 

[AllMakesCombined]

I was glad to see this on my Google page this morning. I'm sure it will be the first in thousands to come. We just need to keep improving our observation technology.

 

[nasher168]

I'm looking forward to the launch of the Webb space telescope myself.

 

[AndromedasWake]

It's another fantastic demonstration of the power of adaptive optics, and goes to show how important ground-based observations are. To my knowledge, this is not the first directly observed exoplanet though*. Hubble imaged Fomalhaut b in 2004 and 2006.

Hubble Directly Observes Planet Orbiting Fomalhaut

I literally couldn't believe how under-celebrated this release was at the time, and many still haven't heard of this achievement. Then again, almost no one except astronomers knows that we landed a probe on the moon of another planet in 2005... we need Carl Sagan back.

*Re-read the release, and it says the first imaged by telescopes on Earth, so yes, it is technically correct.

 

[Case]

Oh no! It's the Eye of Mordor!

 

[SagansHeroes]

I literally couldn't believe how under-celebrated this release was at the time, and many still haven't heard of this achievement. Then again, almost no one except astronomers knows that we landed a probe on the moon of another planet in 2005... we need Carl Sagan back.

*Re-read the release, and it says the first imaged by telescopes on Earth, so yes, it is technically correct.

Yeah I couldn't agree more. Becoming a recent (in the last few years) super astronomy fan I am constantly surprised at how much exciting new information has come out in the past 5 or so years that has had little to no coverage in any mainstream media. Yet I recall the Australian evening news running a (later found out to be false) rumour that "Brangelina had broken up"....
Nothing on Huygens probe, Cassini mission data (at all), Voyagers reaching Heliosphere, Exoplanet search/find, mars info updates, missions to pluto/mercury etc. I don't think we even got any information on LCROSS, even though you could run with the "nasa going to bomb the moon" angle and make it look controversial >.<

I basically have to have multiple serious space/astronomy tabs permanently open on my browser to try and keep up to date.



In regards tot he OP, that is a very nice clear picture. Although I thought that recently we had seen a planet around another star as we witnessed it move in front or behind of it? Like just the other week, giving the first recorded evidence of a moving exo-planet? But this picture is sweet none the less.

 

[CranesNotSkyHooks]

Absolutely wonderful.

I remember reading somewhere that if Jupiter were a bit bigger, it could have formed into a Star but I think my source (which I can't remember lol) is way out of date because this planet is 8 times the mass the of Jupiter but it's still not a star. Maybe someone who reads this post will correct me....be gentle with me

 

[SagansHeroes]

Absolutely wonderful.

I remember reading somewhere that if Jupiter were a bit bigger, it could have formed into a Star but I think my source (which I can't remember lol) is way out of date because this planet is 8 times the mass the of Jupiter but it's still not a star. Maybe someone who reads this post will correct me....be gentle with me

I believe it's because of it's make up, i.e. Jupiter is largely helium/hydrogen, as is a star (at least early on). Earth is not so it wouldn't necessarily be a star that big either. I'm not 100% sure, there's probably a better/different explanation.

 

[FaithlessThinker]

I believe it's because of it's make up, i.e. Jupiter is largely helium/hydrogen, as is a star (at least early on).

So that means, if we light Jupiter on fire, we would have an instant new sun. Lol, joke, couldn't resist.

 

[ExplorerAtHeart]

You need something 70 times the mass of Jupiter to make a star. And even that is a really weak red dwarf.

 

[Anachronous Rex]

It's not my field, but if I remember correctly there is some controversy about the mass required to sustain fusion. I think it was due to the observation that metallic hydrogen, which is thought to comprise the core of Jupiter, does not fuse, and so the reaction would need to take place higher up in the atmosphere. Because of this it would require greater mass then initially supposed to initiate fusion, as the reacting hydrogen fuel in these layers is under relatively low pressure when compared to the core.

I probably just butchered the physics involved though... someone care to jump in? Andromeda? Someone else?