First Picture Of Likely Planet Around Sun-like Star

Astronomers have unveiled what is likely the first picture of a planet around a normal star similar to the Sun. Scientists used the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawai'i to take images of the young star, which lies about 500 light-years from Earth, and a candidate companion of that star. They also obtained spectra to confirm the nature of the companion, which has a mass about eight times that of Jupiter, and lies roughly 330 times the Earth-Sun distance away from its star. The parent star is similar in mass to the Sun, but is much younger.

Read the whole article on Science Daily

More from Science Daily