The small, red object tested the Yepun unit to its limits
Posted on 09/10/2004 7:55:48 AM PDT by alnitak
|
The small, red object tested the Yepun unit to its limits
|
Astronomers working in Chile think they may have taken the first direct image of a planet circling another star.
The star, called 2M1207, is 230 light-years away and is very much smaller and fainter than our own Sun.
The pictured companion is 100 times fainter still and tested the technical limits of the Yepun telescope.
Astronomer Christophe Dumas said: "It is a strange feeling that it may indeed be the first planetary system beyond our own ever imaged."
 |
 The thrill of seeing this faint source of light in real-time on the instrument display was unbelievable
Christophe Dumas
|
Benjamin Zuckerman, of the University of California, in Los Angeles, added: "If the candidate companion of 2M1207 is really a planet, this would be the first time that a gravitationally bound exoplanet has been imaged around a star or brown dwarf."
And Anne-Marie Lagrange, from the Grenoble Observatory, France, said: "Our discovery represents a first step towards opening a new field in astrophysics: the imaging and spectroscopic study of planetary systems.
"Such studies will enable astronomers to characterise the physical structure and chemical composition of giant and, eventually, terrestrial-like planets."
At the limit
The observations were made with the 8.2m Yepun unit, part of the Very Large Telescope (VLT) facility operated by the European Southern Observatory (Eso) on Cerro Paranal in the Atacama Desert.
In April, a team of European and American astronomers used Yepun to detect a faint and very red point of light near the brown-dwarf star 2M1207.
The star has a mass of about a few per cent of our Sun's mass and is not able to sustain nuclear fusion reactions in its core to produce energy in the same way as our Sun does.
 The VLT has four 8.2m telescopes
|
2M1207 is thought to be about eight million years old. The star is a member of the TW Hydrae stellar association.
Working at the limits of its ability, the Yepun telescope was able to obtain a spectrum of the faint red object seen alongside 2M1207.
The spectrum showed the signatures of water molecules and confirms that the object must be small and light.
The researchers are not completely certain the object is an associated planet but they believe that further observations will prove this.
These observations will take a year or so. In the meantime, the astronomers are referring to the object as a "giant planet candidate companion".
Unbelievable thrill
On several occasions during the past few years, astronomical images have revealed objects that appear to be exoplanets. After further study, however, none of these candidates has proved to be convincing.
During its TW Hydrae association survey, the Yepun telescope was operating in its adaptive optics mode. This flexes the mirror to compensate for the Earth's atmospheric turbulence - to produce a much sharper image.
"If these images had been obtained without adaptive optics, the object would not have been seen," said Gael Chauvin of Eso.
"The thrill of seeing this faint source of light in real-time on the instrument display was unbelievable," said Christophe Dumas, also of Eso.
A series of exposures was made through various optical filters.
The researchers say the spectrum obtained is probably that of a "young and hot planet" that will cool down to become a gas-giant world like Jupiter.
A detailed paper concerning the discovery has been submitted to the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
neat stuff!
uh - but didnt the light take eons to get here ?
note to self.....when I get as excited as this astronomer, find handgun, shoot self
Nice attitude.
Great news, and solid progress in the field, but methinks the "researchers" might be just a bit too excited in the wrong way. (Astro-geeks need dates, too!)
The star is brightly shining, we can see it 230 light years away, there must be some kind of nuclear reactions going on.
Can anyone explain this a bit?
it didnt strike me as interesting
sorry
I'm not sure, in fact I'm sure that no-one is sure, though no doubt there are theoretical models. Jupiter in fact is still "cooling down" 4.6 billion years after it formed: it emits more energy than it receives from the sun, the extra is coming from the slow gravitational contraction of its gas.
You don't have to be as excited as this guy was, but you don't have to be so down on his elation. Fine, astronomy may not be your thing, but in the field of planet hunting, this is a twelve-point buck.
I'm a manned space nut because it pays the mortgage, I'm a space nut in general because it's fascinating, and really is the next place to explore and develop. The ability to find a solar system of any type and truly resolve an image is an awesome technical acheivement. This astronomer dude was there to see a historical moment, and the validation of a few people's graduate theses, I expect.
I guess my point is, can't you just be happy that the guy is happy?
Exactly my question too, if no fission then where is the light comming from? Star seems to be shinning brightly.
actually it is a hobby of mine - I have a 5" reflector
look, I apologized, enough already - lets move on
If you get your question answered please ping me. A collasped (sun like) star is at first a white dwarf (white hot), then as it cools it fades to a black dwarf (not hot at all). But a brown dwarf is not a fading white dwarf it is a star that is too small to ignite fission (at least that is what the article implies). So I am very curious about this. thanks
Seeing the light on the display would involve a delay of a fraction of a microsecond. What might be interesting is that the motion of the planet might shift its relative time a second into the past or future, but the light on the display would still take a fraction of a millisecond to get to the eye of the scientist.
Aye, Agreed. FWIW, my apologies for busting your chops.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
