Researchers at the European Southern Observatory have captured the first-ever images of a planetary system with multiple exoplanets. The system revolves around a star that …
and it’s located roughly 300 light-years from Earth. That’s a relatively short distance, all things considered, and it’s close enough that astronomers were able to capture images of not only the star at its center but also a pair of massive exoplanets that are orbiting it.
“Even though astronomers have indirectly detected thousands of planets in our galaxy, only a tiny fraction of these exoplanets have been directly imaged,” Matthew Kenworthy, co-author of the research, said in a statement. “Direct observations are important in the search for environments that can support life.”
The star at the heart of the system is like a young version of our own Sun, but the planets orbiting it are a far cry from Earth. The planets are gas giants akin to Jupiter, seen glowing brightly in the image while the star sits in the upper left corner of the image. But while the planets may be gassy like Jupiter, they’re orbiting at much more extreme distances.The two gas giants orbit their host star at distances of 160 and about 320 times the Earth-sun distance.
Capturing images of other planetary systems is vital if we want to better understand our own. With just data point — our own solar system — there’s only so much we can assume to know. Observing other systems, especially in an immature state, offers us a glimpse at how these collections of planets appear and change over time.
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