In news that has thrown astronomers and space enthusiasts into a tizzy of excitement, two separate research teams announced today that they have taken the first pictures of exoplanets, planets orbiting stars beyond the edge of our solar system. It's
an achievement that has long been considered vital in the search for planets like our own [Physics World].
One team spotted a single planet circling a bright star only 25 light-years away in the constellation Piscis Austrinus, while the other detected three giant planets orbiting a star 130 light-years away in the Pegasus constellation.
More than 300 so-called extrasolar planets have been found circling distant stars, making their discovery the hottest and fastest growing field in astronomy. But the observations have been made mostly indirectly, by dips in starlight as planets cross in front of their home star or by wobbles they induce going by it. Astronomers being astronomers, they ...
