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Posted: November 14, 2008 |
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Scientists have for the first time snapped a picture of multiple planets orbiting a star other than the sun. Researchers using the Keck and Gemini telescopes found three planets, each bigger than Jupiter, circling the star HR8799. In other news, the Hubble Space Telescope found a planet orbiting Fomalhaut, a bright star only 25 light years away.
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| A bright star |
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| Light from stars usually overwhelms telescopes' ability to see orbiting objects like planets nearby (left), so researchers generally have to infer planets' presence by looking at their gravitational effects on the star. But special processing allowed astronomer Christian Marois and his colleagues to see the three planets orbiting HR 8799 (right). |
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| Photo Credit: National Research Council Canada |
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