11-13-2008, 08:27 PM
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#1
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The new goggles also do nothing.
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Calgary
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First visual images of planets around other stars!
This is awesome news!
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/ba...tems-pictures/
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The star in question is Fomalhaut, a star easily visible to the unaided eye; it’s the brightest star in the constellation of Piscis Austrinus, the 18th brightest in the sky, and only 25 light years away. It’s literally millions of times brighter than the planet, so the Hubble camera uses an occulting bar, a small piece of metal that blocks the brightest part of the star’s image. The blacked-out area in the center of the picture is where Fomalhaut is (also, the star’s image has been digitally subtracted using an image of another star as a template; that further reduces the amount of unwanted light). The radial lines are not real; they are an optical effect of the very bright star. The ring is real; it’s dust leftover from the formation of the star and the planet.
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Quote:
That image is the first to directly show two planets orbiting another star! It’s a near-infrared image using the giant Gemini North 8 meter telescope. Like in the Hubble image, the star’s light has been blocked, allowing the two planets to be seen (labeled b and c).
The star is called HR 8799. It’s a bit more massive (1.5 times) and more luminous (5x) than the Sun, and lies about 130 light years from Earth. The planets in this picture orbit it at distances of 6 billion km (3.6 billion miles) and 10.5 billion km (6.3 billion miles). A third planet, not seen in this image but discovered later using the Keck 10 meter telescope, orbits the star closer in at a distance of 3.8 billion km (2.3 billion miles).
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__________________
Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
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The Following 13 Users Say Thank You to photon For This Useful Post:
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4X4,
AC,
arsenal,
Ford Prefect,
Iowa_Flames_Fan,
Ironhorse,
JohnnyB,
jolinar of malkshor,
Knut,
Phaneuf,
pope04,
The Fonz,
Traditional_Ale
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11-13-2008, 09:34 PM
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#2
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Basement Chicken Choker
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: In a land without pants, or war, or want. But mostly we care about the pants.
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Are those scientists SURE that that is a planet and not actually Cthuga?
__________________
Better educated sadness than oblivious joy.
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11-13-2008, 09:38 PM
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#3
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Sleazy Banker
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Cold Lake Alberta Canada
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that is so freaking cool.
there is life out there, how can there not be life out there somewhere.
we are not alone!! it is inconceivable that there isnt some form of life out there.
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11-13-2008, 10:38 PM
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#4
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Lifetime Suspension
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Sec 216
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I, for one, welcome our new Fomalhaut overlords.
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11-14-2008, 12:09 AM
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#6
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The new goggles also do nothing.
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Calgary
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Lol it totally looks like that.
__________________
Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
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11-14-2008, 12:11 AM
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#7
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One of the Nine
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Quote:
Originally Posted by photon
Lol it totally looks like that.
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I was going to say the same thing...
Eh, it made today's APOD as well. Sweet.
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11-14-2008, 09:00 AM
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#8
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Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Crowsnest Pass
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This will be a great day - I hope I am here to see it:
How long before we see the Holy Grail, the first image of a terrestrial planet, orbiting a star like the Sun at just the right distance for liquid water to bathe its surface? It may not be for a decade or two, but mark my words: that day will arrive. And when it does, well, we’ll just have to rewrite the history books again, won’t we?
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11-14-2008, 11:49 AM
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#9
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Crash and Bang Winger
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: The Dome
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Quote:
Originally Posted by T@T
Is that the shadow of the Enterprise in the middle?  |
I saw this...
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11-14-2008, 03:18 PM
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#10
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Scoring Winger
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Quote:
Originally Posted by troutman
This will be a great day - I hope I am here to see it:
How long before we see the Holy Grail, the first image of a terrestrial planet, orbiting a star like the Sun at just the right distance for liquid water to bathe its surface? It may not be for a decade or two, but mark my words: that day will arrive. And when it does, well, we’ll just have to rewrite the history books again, won’t we?
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Me too... I hope I'm around for the day some creepy crawler, shuffles across the camera lens on one of thoes planatary rovers...
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11-14-2008, 03:34 PM
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#11
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Norm!
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And demands our unconditional surrender
__________________
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
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11-14-2008, 04:37 PM
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#12
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Franchise Player
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Vancouver
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Hmmm...
Those images look eerily similar to pictures of secret Iraqi WMD storage facilities... I'd be careful!
__________________
"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
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11-14-2008, 04:48 PM
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#13
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Franchise Player
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Djibouti
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I say two week from now we'll find out it's really just balls.
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11-14-2008, 04:57 PM
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#14
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Franchise Player
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Clinching Party
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http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
Kind of related. The Shuttle is going to take off at about 10 after 5 (15 minutes). You can listen to all the checklists and emergency plans. Kinda neat.
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11-14-2008, 04:58 PM
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#15
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Franchise Player
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Vancouver
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Quote:
Originally Posted by troutman
This will be a great day - I hope I am here to see it:
How long before we see the Holy Grail, the first image of a terrestrial planet, orbiting a star like the Sun at just the right distance for liquid water to bathe its surface? It may not be for a decade or two, but mark my words: that day will arrive. And when it does, well, we’ll just have to rewrite the history books again, won’t we?
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Do you think such a things would even be made public? I don't... at least not for a while. It would immediately become top secret information while the country that found it tried to figure out how to "own" it.
__________________
"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
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11-14-2008, 05:00 PM
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#16
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Has lived the dream!
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Where I lay my head is home...
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction
Hmmm...
Those images look eerily similar to pictures of secret Iraqi WMD storage facilities... I'd be careful!
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Lol nice!
Yeah maybe it should say first pictures of EVIDENCE of another planet. I was expecting to click and see a planet.
Still exciting yes, but not as advertised.
I am amazed at the stuff we are learning (and seeing) with the Hubble Space telescope though. It's definitely been worth the money spent on it. I think it's been the space programs best work in 25 years. Nothing done after has yielded as much information or wonder. Heck many have outright failed.
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