Astronomers directly image "super-Jupiter" exoplanet
Posted: Tue, Nov 20, 2012, 7:08 AM ET (1208 GMT)
Astronomers announced Monday they had directly imaged a massive extrasolar planet orbiting another star. Kappa Andromedae b has a mass 12.8 times that of Jupiter, placing it near the dividing line between planet and brown dwarf; astronomers call the world a "super-Jupiter" to cover both possibilities. The exoplanet orbits the star Kappa Andromedae, a B-class star 2.5 times the mass of the Sun 170 light-years away, at a distance of 55 AU. Astronomers observed the super-Jupiter using the Subaru Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, at near-infrared wavelengths and by masking out the light from the star itself. The discovery suggests that large stars are also capable of hosting planetary systems.
Astronomers announced Monday they had directly imaged a massive extrasolar planet orbiting another star. Kappa Andromedae b has a mass 12.8 times that of Jupiter, placing it near the dividing line between planet and brown dwarf; astronomers call the world a "super-Jupiter" to cover both possibilities. The exoplanet orbits the star Kappa Andromedae, a B-class star 2.5 times the mass of the Sun 170 light-years away, at a distance of 55 AU. Astronomers observed the super-Jupiter using the Subaru Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, at near-infrared wavelengths and by masking out the light from the star itself. The discovery suggests that large stars are also capable of hosting planetary systems.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Saturday, March 14
Canada Takes Its Sovereignty Push to Space
New York Times — 9:58 am ET (1358 GMT) Eutelsat - termination of capacity contracts on Express AT1 and AT2 satellites
Eutelsat — 9:57 am ET (1357 GMT) USSPACECOM commander highlights U.S.-India space cooperation during Indo-Pacific visit
US Space Command — 9:57 am ET (1357 GMT) Firefly Aerospace: Successful Launch Validates Alpha, But The Real Test Is Cadence
SeekingAlpha — 9:56 am ET (1356 GMT) Confidential settlement for scuttled Starlink deal means Ontarians kept in dark on payout
Canadian Press — 9:53 am ET (1353 GMT) |
