Two gas giants
Just over 300 light-years away is a star that's a lot like a very young version of our Sun, with multiple exoplanets orbiting it. That's an interesting find in itself. But what makes the system truly dazzling is that it just became the first of its kind to be directly imaged, planets and all.
On the night of 16 February 2020, astronomers using the Very Large Telescope in Chile were able to obtain direct observations of two enormous exoplanets on extremely large orbits around the star named TYC 8998-760-1.
Directly imaging exoplanets is challenging, to say the least. They are very dim compared to their host stars, and very far away from us. Most of the over 4,000 exoplanets confirmed to date have only been detected via indirect means - such as faint, regular dips in the star's light as the exoplanet passes in front of it, or a slight wobble in the star's position due to the exoplanet's gravity.
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When all the data were put together, they held a surprise. Clear and bright, there was the exoplanet they expected to see, TYC 8998-760-1 b. But, at a much greater distance of 320 astronomical units, the astronomers found another bright dot.
Careful analysis and comparison of images taken at different times revealed this wasn't a star or glitch, but a second, smaller exoplanet, clocking in at about six times the mass of Jupiter. It's been named TYC 8998-760-1 c.
"Our team has now been able to take the first image of two gas giant companions that are orbiting a young, solar analogue," said astronomer Maddalena Reggiani of KU Leuven in Belgium.
https://www.sciencealert.com/this-i...-a-multi-planet-system-around-a-sun-like-star
Just over 300 light-years away is a star that's a lot like a very young version of our Sun, with multiple exoplanets orbiting it. That's an interesting find in itself. But what makes the system truly dazzling is that it just became the first of its kind to be directly imaged, planets and all.
On the night of 16 February 2020, astronomers using the Very Large Telescope in Chile were able to obtain direct observations of two enormous exoplanets on extremely large orbits around the star named TYC 8998-760-1.
Directly imaging exoplanets is challenging, to say the least. They are very dim compared to their host stars, and very far away from us. Most of the over 4,000 exoplanets confirmed to date have only been detected via indirect means - such as faint, regular dips in the star's light as the exoplanet passes in front of it, or a slight wobble in the star's position due to the exoplanet's gravity.
...
When all the data were put together, they held a surprise. Clear and bright, there was the exoplanet they expected to see, TYC 8998-760-1 b. But, at a much greater distance of 320 astronomical units, the astronomers found another bright dot.
Careful analysis and comparison of images taken at different times revealed this wasn't a star or glitch, but a second, smaller exoplanet, clocking in at about six times the mass of Jupiter. It's been named TYC 8998-760-1 c.
"Our team has now been able to take the first image of two gas giant companions that are orbiting a young, solar analogue," said astronomer Maddalena Reggiani of KU Leuven in Belgium.
https://www.sciencealert.com/this-i...-a-multi-planet-system-around-a-sun-like-star