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Credit & Copyright: Royal
Observatory Edinburgh, Anglo-Australian Observatory, and AURA
Explanation:
The star
70 Virginis has a planet. This recent
discovery is the second known case of a planet orbiting a normal
star other than our
Sun itself. The first case involved
51 Pegasi and was announced last year. The star
70 Vir, shown in the center of the above false-color picture, is very
much like the Sun. The
planet is not visible above - the unusual structure surrounding the star
is caused by the telescope. The planet, designated 70 Vir b for short, was
discovered by very slight periodic shifts in its colors. Defining
characteristics of this planet include that it is at least eight times the
mass of Jupiter, it's orbit is much smaller than
Jupiter's, and it's temperature allows
water
to exist in liquid form - like on the Earth. Life
on Earth is based on
liquid water -
could life exist
here too?
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: extrasolar planet
Publications with words: extrasolar planet
See also:
- Epsilon Tauri: Star with Planet
- APOD: 2023 October 17 Á PDS 70: Disk, Planets, and Moons
- APOD: 2023 September 20 Á Methane Discovered on Distant Exoplanet
- APOD: 2023 June 6 Á Star Eats Planet
- APOD: 2023 February 1 Á The Seventh World of Trappist 1
- APOD: 2023 January 24 Á LHS 475 b: Earth Sized Exoplanet
- 50 Light years to 51 Pegasi