{"id":22294,"date":"2020-07-22T09:00:22","date_gmt":"2020-07-22T13:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=22294"},"modified":"2020-07-20T18:29:29","modified_gmt":"2020-07-20T22:29:29","slug":"eso-first-ever-image-of-multiple-exoplanets-circling-a-sun-like-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=22294","title":{"rendered":"ESO: First ever image of two exoplanets circling a Sun-like star"},"content":{"rendered":"

The latest report from the European Southern Observatory (ESO<\/a>):<\/p>\n

First Ever Image of a Multi-Planet System around a Sun-like Star
\nCaptured by ESO Telescope<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The European Southern Observatory\u2019s Very Large Telescope (ESO\u2019s VLT) has taken the first ever image of a young, Sun-like star accompanied by two giant exoplanets. Images of systems with multiple exoplanets are extremely rare, and \u2014 until now \u2014 astronomers had never directly observed more than one planet orbiting a star similar to the Sun. The observations can help astronomers understand how planets formed and evolved around our own Sun.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
This image<\/a>, captured by the SPHERE instrument on ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope, shows the star TYC 8998-760-1 accompanied by two giant exoplanets. This is the first time astronomers have directly observed more than one planet orbiting a star similar to the Sun. The image was captured by blocking the light from the young, Sun-like star (on the top left corner) using a coronagraph, which allows for the fainter planets to be detected. The bright and dark rings we see on the star\u2019s image are optical artefacts. The two planets are visible as two bright dots in the centre and bottom right of the frame.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Just a few weeks ago, ESO revealed a planetary system being born in a new, stunning VLT image<\/a>. Now, the same telescope, using the same instrument<\/a>, has taken the first direct image of a planetary system around a star like our Sun, located about 300 light-years away and known as TYC 8998-760-1.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis discovery is a snapshot of an environment that is very similar to our Solar System, but at a much earlier stage of its evolution<\/em>,\u201d<\/p>\n

says Alexander Bohn, a PhD student at Leiden University in the Netherlands, who led the new research published today in The Astrophysical Journal Letters<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though astronomers have indirectly detected thousands of planets in our galaxy, only a tiny fraction of these exoplanets have been directly imaged<\/em>,\u201d says co-author Matthew Kenworthy, Associate Professor at Leiden University, adding that \u201cdirect observations are important in the search for environments that can support life.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n