Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

First Image Of Planet-Like Body Orbiting A Star

Posted by timothy on from the won't-be-the-last dept.

deglr6328 writes "The Gemini North Telescope has, for the first time, directly imaged a planet like body orbiting a star. The object is a brown dwarf, 55 to 78 times the mass of planet Jupiter and 14 AU distant from its parent star 15 Sge. It was imaged using adaptive optics(see also here) that correct for the blurring effect of the atmosphere using deformable mirrors. Cool!"

5 of 176 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Saw this earlier today by CaptainCarrot · · Score: 4, Insightful
    One wonders if the cosmic soup had simmered a little more or a little less if Jupiter wouldn't be a binary star. How would it affect sleep patterns? What the hell would our watches look like?

    Would we even be here?

    Considering the climactic history of Earth, it's clear that even small perturbations in its orbit and small changes in the brightness of the Sun have large effects on the climate. In a binary star system, its not at all clear that any planetary climates would ever be steady enough to allow higher life forms to develop. Neither the orbit nor the energy received from the suns would likely be stable enough.

    --
    And the brethren went away edified.
  2. Re:Now here's what's funny ... by statusbar · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Now that god has apparently failed him he is probably off learning how to be a satanist. (typical extremist behaviour)

    --jeff

    --
    ipv6 is my vpn
  3. Time-lapse pictures by Caractacus+Potts · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Until we see it moving around that other star in an ellipse, it's just some bright pixels next to some other bright pixels. Hopefully, in a few months, we'll get to see some relative motion from it.

    1. Re:Time-lapse pictures by deglr6328 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It orbits 14 AU away from it's star, it's orbital period is at least decades long.

      --
      - "Hear that?! The percolations are imminent! Cease your ingress!"
  4. Re:Whats a Brown Dwarf... by PhuCknuT · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The big deal is that this is the first time they've directly observed something this size orbiting so far from a star, it challanges the theories of solar system formation. I may be wrong, but I don't think we've observed (directly or indirectly) anything close planet sized that is more than a few AU from it's parent star.