2M1207 © ESO
Posted on 09/14/2004 10:37:21 AM PDT by balrog666
Rival teams race to snap alien planet
Conclusive proof of first direct image remains elusive.
This image shows the star 2M1207, with what may be a planet to its bottom left.
A group of astronomers working in Chile may have taken the first picture of a planet outside our Solar System.
The claim comes just months after the sighting of another planet-like object, made using the Hubble Space Telescope and reported by news@nature.com in May this year (see Hubble snaps new world).
Although astronomers have identified more than 120 worlds orbiting other stars, none has been pictured directly and researchers are still looking for evidence to confirm that these fuzzy blobs are indeed planets. Direct observation of a planet would allow astronomers to work out the composition of its atmosphere, and perhaps even its surface.
"The race is on, so people are pushing the data more and going public before they've really got it nailed down," says Steinn Sigurdsson, one of the Pennsylvania State University astronomers who made the earlier Hubble discovery. He is not revealing the precise location of the object his team found until he has confirmed whether or not it is a planet.
It is a strange feeling that it may indeed be the first planetary beyond our own ever imaged. -Christophe Dumas Paranal Observatory, Chile
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) scientists, using the Yepun telescope on top of Paranal Mountain in Chile, saw their possible planet orbiting a small, faint star called 2M1207 about 230 light years away. They have submitted their findings to the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics(1).
"My immediate reaction was, 'Oh no, we've been scooped'," says Sigurdsson. But both observations lack conclusive evidence that star and planet are moving around each other in a synchronized fashion, which is vital if astronomers are to confirm that the objects are indeed planets.
"We had our data before them, but they really hustled and submitted their paper three or four weeks before we did," adds Sigurdsson. "They did a good job, so congratulations to them."
Both observing teams look for infrared light coming from the planets, which is less likely to be swamped by the intense glare of a parent star. The observations also reveal some of the planets' chemistries.
"They are already claiming to see water," says Sigurdsson of the ESO team's discovery. Water confirms that the object is genuinely cool. Otherwise, it might be a more distant star lined up in just the right place or simply appear cool because it is hidden behind a veil of interstellar dust, he explains.
Far reaching implications
"It is a strange feeling that this may indeed be the first planetary system beyond our own ever imaged," says Christophe Dumas, a member of the ESO team based at Paranal.
"Our discovery represents a first step towards opening a whole new field in astrophysics: the imaging and spectroscopic study of planetary systems," adds Anne-Marie Lagrange, a team member from the Grenoble Observatory in France.
Both groups of researchers are now waiting anxiously for telescope time to make more detailed observations of their systems. But Sigurdsson is optimistic that his team will be the first to prove it has photographed a planet, and he hopes to be able to use Hubble again within the next few months. "I think they will have to wait longer for confirmation," he says.
References
1. Chauvin G., et al. Astron. Astrophys, (submitted); preprint at http://www.sc.eso.org/~gchauvin/Gg222.pdf . (2004).
Planetary Ping!
This is cool and of wide interest judging by the news coverage. I am wondering what the planet count is since it was at 160 and then another 100 were added in one batch a month ago. Should be 260 if that is right, but it's hard to keep up with.
It's a forgery!
Thanks for the ping!
It's obvious that the planet and star are proportionally spaced. Everbody knows that 230 years ago planets and star could only have fixed spacing. That is, unless they used a movable type press.
RA, your input please.
It would be great if they could confirm the presence of water, showing that the planet may be cool enough for life. It would be even better if they could discover the presence of beer, showing that there's intelligent life.
I think I'm giving this one the full evo ping treatment.
I think there's been a bit of digital enhancement.
What we see are not actual star and planet disks. Both of these would be points of light but since the camera cannot resolve points or even star disks in most all cases, the disk is nothing more than light spilling onto adjacent pixels in a round pattern.
Could this planet have exsisted in 1972?
Aye!..CAPTAIN. Thx. for the "Planet" ping. :)
Cool, balrog666! Thanks for the ping!
I'm assuming when the article says that they "saw water" is that they ran spectroscopy tests which indicated the presence of both hydrogen and oxygen. I don't know if spectroscopists are able to deduce the presence of particular compounds or states elements are found in based on their tests.
If they are observing in the infrared, it is certainly possible to detect the presence of water, rather than just hydrogen and oxygen separately. In the lab, the IR spectrum of water vapor would contain fine structure due to rotational energy levels that are swamped out in the spectrum of liquid water. Whether this fine structure (which is not easy to detect in the lab without fairly sophisticated IR instruments) is detectable in an astronomical observation is debatable.
Also, planets radiate in the infrared. These could have been infrared images. Even the night side of a planet radiates in the IR.
Is this picture from CBS? Don't worry the pajama bloggers will check it out.
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