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The very big scientific news of the day is that, for the first time, there is now visual - or direct - evidence of planets outside of our solar system. According to an article in today’s Washington Post, astronomers have detected over 300 extrasolar planets using indirect methods in the last decade.
The news today is the discovery of the planet “Fomalhaut b” by Paul Kalas of the University of California at Berkeley, and the discovery of three planets orbiting a star called HR 8799 by Christian Marois and his colleagues at the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics in Victoria, B.C.
Kalas used the Hubble telecope during his study of the star Fomalhaut, while Marois used two telescopes in Hawaii. Fomalhaut is 25 light-years from here, a little further if you live inside the beltway. HR 8799 is 128 light-years. It’s a good thing the price of gas has been coming down lately. Here is a picture of Fomalhaut b.
Fomalhaut b
This seems like a good time to share the following pictures, which have made the rounds as email attachments.
The Five Smallest Planets
The 9 Planets of Our Solar System
Planets Relative to Our Sun
Our Sun and Some Other Stars
Sun and Antares
On this last picture, the Sun is represented as a pixel. I think maybe Betelgeuse and Antares are stacking.