Monday, September 15, 2008

Gemini North telescope captures first picture of likely planet

September 15, 2008 - Astronomy.com
Three University of Toronto scientists used the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii to take images of the young star 1RXS J160929.1-210524 (which lies about 500 light-years from Earth) and a candidate companion of that star. They also obtained spectra to confirm the nature of the companion, which has a mass about 8 times that of Jupiter, and lies roughly 330 times the Earth-Sun distance from its star. For comparison, the most distant planet in our solar system, Neptune, orbits the Sun at only about 30 times the Earth-Sun distance. The parent star is similar in mass to the Sun, but is much younger.
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