Astronomers Directly Image Distant Exoplanet

(Before It's News)

False color, near infrared image of the Kappa Andromedae system, by the Subaru Telescope. Almost all of the light of the host star has been removed by the dark, software-generated disk in the center. Credit: NAOJ/Subaru/J. Carson (College of Charleston)/T. Currie (University Toronto)

Astronomers using the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii have found a super-Jupiter-sized exoplanet orbiting a massive star about 170 light years away from Earth. Not only have they detected the planet, but they’ve also taken a direct image of it. This is exciting because only a handful of exo-planets have been imaged directly. But the other interesting aspect of this newly-found planet is that it orbits its star at a distance comparable to Neptune in our own solar system. Astronomers say this is a strong indication that the planet formed in a manner similar to how it is believed smaller, rocky planets form: from a protoplanetary disk of gas and dusk which surrounded the star during its earliest stages.
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© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | One comment |
Post tags: Extrasolar Planets, SEEDS (Strategic Exploration of Exoplanets and Disks with Subaru Telescope/HiCIAO), Subaru Telescope

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