Astronomical first: Hubble sees an exosolar planet!

Stephen Withers
Friday, 14 November 2008 09:35

Science - Space

Photographs taken by Hubble in 2004 showed a few light sources that astronomers thought could possibly be planets.

Hubble has now photographed a point source of light 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometres) inside the inner edge of the ring. Dubbed Fomalhaut b, the planet is estimated to be about three times the mass of Jupiter.

The object is moving in a path around the star, and the change in its position implies an orbit of 872 years.

"Our Hubble observations were incredibly demanding. Fomalhaut b is one billion times fainter than the star. We began this program in 2001, and our persistence finally paid off," said Hubble astronomer Paul Kalas, of the University of California at Berkeley.

Planned infrared observations of the planet - possibly using the forthcoming James Webb Space Telescope - will look for evidence of water vapour in the atmosphere.

Want to see an image of Fomalhaut showing the planet? NASA is offering one here.

If you're a star watcher, Fomalhaut is in the constellation Piscis Austrinus (Southern Fish). Another image from NASA's web site might help you located it.