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This is a link post First photo of exoplanet confirmed


Space scientists confirm the bright point in the upper left is the first photo of a planet outside our own solar system. Full story is here. For me the fact they can photograph it is genuinely unbelievable and my mind is currently reeling.

Edited to make it clear what I am staggered by.
 (Smale is stuffed, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 9:31, Reply)
This is a normal post it's brilliant they've got a photo
but puzzled by the unbelievable comment. Wouldn't it be more vastly more unbelievable that our solar system was the only one with planets?
 (I helped save b3ta! rob, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 9:45, Reply)
This is a normal post This^
There are plenty of exo planets already known about (446 according to the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia)

It is cool they've got a photo of one though.
 (I helped save b3ta! LemonEntryMyDearWatson This time, Moriarty, the hand is on the other foot, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 9:52, Reply)
This is a normal post The older I get
the more and more absurd I find people who find the idea of extra-terrestrial life absurd.

I mean this motherfucker:

go2.wordpress.com/?id=725X1342&site=danielsanimals.wordpress.com&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdanielsanimals.files.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F02%2Fgiant_anteater1.gif&sref=http%3A%2F%2Fdanielsanimals.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F02%2F28%2Fthis-is-my-giant-anteater-fact-sheet%2F

exists. Completely by chance. On the same planet. As you. Won't it be more miraculous if somehow, in the whole of the rest of the immensity of the universe, nothing else is alive? And if there is something else, thinking about it objectively, how is it going to be any weirder than some of the things (like 'im ^) we have here?

*edit* On a related subject, i should say. Otherwise it just sounds like I'm ranting in your face.

Also, good linkage. Woo.
 (I helped save b3ta! Throat And Ice Pie I see dem tatties dere., Fri 2 Jul 2010, 10:08, Reply)
This is a normal post Unbelievable in that I can't believe they'd ever get a photo
Completely convinced that other solar systems/planets exist, even life.
 (Smale is stuffed, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 10:12, Reply)
This is a normal post Unbelievable.
If you know that there's taling a picture of a jupiter-sized planet at 500 light-years. When They were only guessing their presence a few years ago while observing the artefacts in the star movement.
I'm really impressed they shot a photo, When I met the man who discovered the first exoplanet in the french "Haute Provence" Observatory, they explained they needed 1 year and a half to compile the data and prove the presence of the planet. It was only a decade ago.
 (Wespel fried french., Fri 2 Jul 2010, 10:19, Reply)
This is a normal post Thank you
You have perfectly expressed the source of by unbelievingness.
 (Smale is stuffed, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 10:29, Reply)
This is a normal post Pfffft. Not as impressive as Endor.


And I bet it doesn't have Ewoks.
 (Jimbotfu Bummed in the gob again, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 9:48, Reply)
This is a normal post They should be looking for Death Stars under construction.
Forewarned is forearmed.
 (I helped save b3ta! Monty Propps, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 10:09, Reply)
This is a normal post am I being dumb?
I thought it was assumed and evident that every star is a sun, and every sun has planets (and other stuff) orbiting around them. I thought we already knew this.
 (I helped save b3ta! Kung_Fu_Russ ran out of amusing signatures on, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 12:19, Reply)
This is a normal post Correct
but it's very cool to have a photo of it, and not an artist's impression. See Wespel's nice reply above
 (Smale is stuffed, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 12:52, Reply)
This is a normal post I don't think we should assume that every star is a sun
Every sun is a star, sure, but not reasonable to assume all of these have their own planetary systems.

In fact, the Drake equation, used a figure of 0.5 for the proportion of stars that have planets, but I can only think is is far too high.

I think far older stars are likely to have planets, less so new newer ones being churned out of star nurseries.

Who knows though!
 (I helped save b3ta! LemonEntryMyDearWatson This time, Moriarty, the hand is on the other foot, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 12:57, Reply)
This is a normal post Wouldn't older stars have formed in regions with fewer heavier elements?
And as such have less raw material for planet building?

(Edit - by heavier, I mean larger than lithium)
 (I helped save b3ta! TheAlmightyBeev, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 13:14, Reply)
This is a normal post Good point
My reasoning was that there was more available raw matter to be collected into the stars accretion discs with the birth of older stars. With newer stars being born, any excess matter would be likely poached by other nearby embryonic stars.

I didn't even consider the distribution of the elements needed for planet formation though; maybe the age of the star gives an approximation towards the type of planet it may have; older stars having gas giants? I don't know; interesting though

An interesting
 (I helped save b3ta! LemonEntryMyDearWatson This time, Moriarty, the hand is on the other foot, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 13:46, Reply)
This is a normal post Only a sub set of stars have the right conditions to have exoplanets...
It depends on the conditions under which they formed.
 (I helped save b3ta! TheAlmightyBeev, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 13:13, Reply)
This is a normal post If I can hijack this with blatant self promotion...
I present/produce an astronomy podcast - if you like space science then please give it a listen and let me know what you think!

The Naked Astronomy Podcast
 (I helped save b3ta! TheAlmightyBeev, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 13:42, Reply)
This is a normal post I feel a bit stupid
I thought that planets elsewhere was already a sure thing, I wouldn't have imagined otherwise for a second.
 (Robbvayne, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 19:16, Reply)