September 16, 2008 - Honolulu Star Bulletin
For the first time ever, astronomers using the Gemini North Telescope on Mauna Kea have taken a picture of what likely is a planet circling a star similar to our sun.
Discovered by astronomers from the University of Toronto, the planet is nothing like Earth and only moderately like our solar system's Jupiter.
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Tuesday, September 16, 2008
A star set in ice
August 22, 2008 - Nature News
Astronomers have spotted a disk of dust and ice ringing a young Sun-like star 165 light years away. The icy signature of the disk and the collisions between bodies inferred to be taking place there suggest it is similar to the Sun's Kuiper belt, a disk of small icy bodies that extends beyond Neptune.
"The key new word is icy," says Christine Chen, an astronomer at Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland and lead author of the new study. "This is the first time there's evidence for water ice around a main sequence star."
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For their study of HD 181327, in the constellation of Pictor, Chen and her colleagues used several instruments, including the Hubble Space Telescope and the Gemini South telescope, an 8-metre ground-based telescope in Chile that is sensitive in the near infrared.
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Astronomers have spotted a disk of dust and ice ringing a young Sun-like star 165 light years away. The icy signature of the disk and the collisions between bodies inferred to be taking place there suggest it is similar to the Sun's Kuiper belt, a disk of small icy bodies that extends beyond Neptune.
"The key new word is icy," says Christine Chen, an astronomer at Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland and lead author of the new study. "This is the first time there's evidence for water ice around a main sequence star."
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For their study of HD 181327, in the constellation of Pictor, Chen and her colleagues used several instruments, including the Hubble Space Telescope and the Gemini South telescope, an 8-metre ground-based telescope in Chile that is sensitive in the near infrared.
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Monday, September 15, 2008
First Picture of Likely Planet around a Sun-like Star
September 15, 2008 - SpaceRef
Astronomers have unveiled what is likely the first picture of a planet around a normal star similar to the Sun.
Three University of Toronto scientists used the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawai'i 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 eight (8) times that of Jupiter, and lies roughly 330 times the Earth-Sun distance away 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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Astronomers have unveiled what is likely the first picture of a planet around a normal star similar to the Sun.
Three University of Toronto scientists used the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawai'i 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 eight (8) times that of Jupiter, and lies roughly 330 times the Earth-Sun distance away 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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Astronomers image planet around Sun-like star
September 15, 2008 - New Scientist
Astronomers have snapped a picture of what may turn out to be the first known planet orbiting a star similar to the Sun. If confirmed, it could challenge estimates of how far away planets can form from their host stars.
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In a survey of more than 85 stars using the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii, the team found one potential planet that is 8 times as massive, 10 times as hot and roughly 30,000 times as bright as Jupiter near a star called 1RXS J160929.1-210524. The star is 85% as massive as the Sun but less than 0.1% its age, at an estimated 5 million years old.
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Astronomers have snapped a picture of what may turn out to be the first known planet orbiting a star similar to the Sun. If confirmed, it could challenge estimates of how far away planets can form from their host stars.
...
In a survey of more than 85 stars using the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii, the team found one potential planet that is 8 times as massive, 10 times as hot and roughly 30,000 times as bright as Jupiter near a star called 1RXS J160929.1-210524. The star is 85% as massive as the Sun but less than 0.1% its age, at an estimated 5 million years old.
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Historic snapshot of a planet beyond the solar system
September 15, 2008 - ScienceNews
The image is possibly the first of an extrasolar planet orbiting a normal star, but some of its features counter current thinking.
After years of searching, astronomers may finally have recorded the first image of a planet orbiting a sunlike star beyond the solar system. The body, about eight times Jupiter’s mass, lies exceptionally far from its presumed parent star — roughly 11 times Neptune’s average distance from the sun.
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He and his colleagues found the new planet earlier this year by using a special optics system on the Gemini North telescope atop Hawaii’s Mauna Kea. The team scoured the vicinity of some 85 stars belonging to the Upper Scorpius association. Stars in this grouping lie 500 light-years from Earth and are only about 5 million years old. The sun, by comparison, is 4.56 billion years old.
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The image is possibly the first of an extrasolar planet orbiting a normal star, but some of its features counter current thinking.
After years of searching, astronomers may finally have recorded the first image of a planet orbiting a sunlike star beyond the solar system. The body, about eight times Jupiter’s mass, lies exceptionally far from its presumed parent star — roughly 11 times Neptune’s average distance from the sun.
...
He and his colleagues found the new planet earlier this year by using a special optics system on the Gemini North telescope atop Hawaii’s Mauna Kea. The team scoured the vicinity of some 85 stars belonging to the Upper Scorpius association. Stars in this grouping lie 500 light-years from Earth and are only about 5 million years old. The sun, by comparison, is 4.56 billion years old.
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Is This a Planet?
September 15, 2008 - Sky and Telescope
Discovering a planet around another star is no big deal these days — dozens of them have been reported in 2008 alone, and the total count now stands at more than 300.
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Now a trio of astronomers from the University of Toronto has found a "planetary-mass candidate" next to a young star that has roughly the Sun's mass. To see it, last April they utilized an adaptive-optics-aided infrared imager attached to the Gemini North telescope atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
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Discovering a planet around another star is no big deal these days — dozens of them have been reported in 2008 alone, and the total count now stands at more than 300.
...
Now a trio of astronomers from the University of Toronto has found a "planetary-mass candidate" next to a young star that has roughly the Sun's mass. To see it, last April they utilized an adaptive-optics-aided infrared imager attached to the Gemini North telescope atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
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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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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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