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Possible First Photo Of Extra-Solar Planet

Posted by timothy on from the baltimore-is-a-stellar-town dept.

dtolman writes "Space.com is reporting that the first direct image of an extra-solar planet may have been made using a new technique with the Hubble telescope. Confirmation will be made in the next few months by reimaging the star, and seeing if the planet candidate has actually changed in its orbital position."

5 of 40 comments (clear)

  1. Not that interesting (?) by clausiam · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The article itself says that extra-solar planets have been detected for more than 10 years via gravitational observations. The fact that this one is photographed doesn't seem to add the much more interest to it since the "photograph" will probably be something only scientist working directly with this technique would recognize as anything but background noise.

    Claus

    1. Re:Not that interesting (?) by CodeMonkey4Hire · · Score: 2, Interesting

      This is great. It could be the first visual evidence of an extrasolar planet. Keep in mind that there are still people who disbelieve the moon-landing, that the earth is round, etc.

      I know that there was some digital processing done on these images, but there really is some truth to "seeing is believing" (except for some "news" on the internet). Besides, this is the first attempt. Think of how many great discoveries started out as "not that interesting."

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      Let's go Hurricanes!!! 2006 Stanley Cup Champions!!!
  2. Hubble! by Visigothe · · Score: 3, Interesting

    And to think, with all the advancements that Hubble is making, they still want to decommission the thing. I can understand decommissioning it when we launch fully function-equivalent replacements, but not "because the shuttle is too dangerous and we can't be bothered to go up and move Hubble out of the decaying orbit".

    Sigh

    --
    Blocklevel: Practical Information Architecture
  3. I'll be impressed... by eingram · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ...when I see this planet's natural satellites!

    Joking aside, this is pretty cool. But the star is a white dwarf. Will this technique work (if it even works now) on brighter, bigger stars?

  4. Naming conventions by karmatic · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Does anyone know what the internationally accepted method of naming such a planet is? Is it simply the first person to record it can name it, or is there a more beaurocratic system in place?