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First image of extrasolar planetary system with multiple planets

Date: 15-Nov-08
Author: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Astronomers for the first time have taken snapshots of a multi-planet solar system, much like ours, orbiting another star.

The new solar system orbits a dusty young star named HR8799, which is 140 light years away and about 1.5 times the size of our sun. Three planets, roughly 10, 10 and 7 times the mass of Jupiter, orbit the star. The size of the planets decreases with distance from the parent star, much like the giant planets do in our system.

Using high-contrast, near-infrared adaptive optics observations with the Keck and Gemini telescopes, the team of researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the National Research Council Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics in Canada, Lowell Observatory, University of California Los Angeles, and several other institutions were able to see three orbiting planetary companions to HR8799.

Near-infrared false-color image taken with the W.M. Keck II telescope shows the three planets, labelled b, c and d, around their parent star HR 8799, which appears as colored speckles after image processing. Courtesy: Christian Marois (NRC Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics) and Bruce Macintosh (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)

In the new findings, the planets are 24, 37 and 67 times the Earth-Sun separation from the host star. The furthest planet in the new system orbits just inside a disk of dusty debris, similar to that produced by the comets of the Kuiper belt of our solar system (just beyond the orbit of Neptune at 30 times Earth-sun distance).

Full story: Astronomers capture first images of newly-discovered solar system

Related links:

• Keck Observatory news release
• National Research Council Canada news release