Topic: Scientific Picture of the Week

[sam]

First Direct Detection of an Exoplanet



It pains me to say this in a way, since I’ve spent the last couple of years trying todo the same thing (but at radio wavelengths) but the first extrasolar planet (i.e. a planet orbiting around a star which is not the Sun) appears to have been directly detected. Oh and its not just one… there are a couple! The first (image above) was discovered using the Hubble Space Telescope imaging the star Fomalhaut which is located about 25 light years from Earth. For a number of years there has been evidence of a planet being present - due to the perturbations it caused on the ring of gas and dust that surround the star. The planet is believed to have a mass similar to that of Jupiter but is at an orbital radius much further away (about 4 times that of the distance between Neptune and Jupiter).

[sam]

WEEK IN PHOTOS: Aztec Dancers, WWII Parade, More

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/11/photogalleries/wip-week107/index.html

[Clive]

Oh Haley sends her commiserations and regards.  She reckons exoplanet research is the most difficult field in astronomy.

[Simon]

I'm sure your time will come, Sam. 

[sam]

Oh Haley sends her commiserations and regards.  She reckons exoplanet research is the most difficult field in astronomy.

probably one of the hardest... which is why I also do the radio survey stuff... gotta keep myself broad - yes obivous joke there.

[Rik]

Now you need to write a definition of obivous, Sam.