ESO Captures First-Ever Clear Image of An Exoplanet Candidate, And It’s 11 Quadrillion km Away

ESO has, for the first time, directly imaged a planet around its host star. Humans are now able to directly image exoplanets; a feat long sought after since the discovery of stellar "wobbling" that lead to the technique first used to detect planets around other stars.

With this discovery, it is a sure bet that new techniques and optics will be employed in order for us to continue to map our local universe.

futurism.com

For the first time ever, ESO astronomers have been able to capture a clear image of a star system 11 quadrillion kilometers away using the combined forces of the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, the Keck Observatory in Hawaii, and the Calar Alto Observatory in Spain.

It may soon be possible to image satellites orbiting other planets. With an optical edge, it could also lead to the discovery of alien artifacts previously undetectable by us. Time will tell just how sharp our view can become.

Wow neat discovery/pic.


Awesome to finally see a photo of a real planet around another star system.

Here's an image where I have taken the liberty to highlight where the planet is located. Just in case people have trouble seeing it.

a reply to: projectvxn
Wow! That is freaking cool! It just gets the imagination going.


thanks for bringing this here.

a reply to: projectvxn

Exciting times

I keep thinking about SpaceXI eventually helping astronomers to place observatories on the Moon. Problems galore outweighed by the potential to get better images of exoplanets we might not have even discovered yet.

We can dream.

It's a cool image and quite a footnote for the history books.

To add:

I find the notion of the Mediocrity Principle to be of use here.

If we can image the stars that are most likely to have originated in the same stellar nursery as us, we may be able to determine whether we're common in the universe or not.

If the simplest explanation is usually correct then it would stand to reason that no phenomenon stands alone in the universe, nor is any of it special in anyway so long as it conforms to the laws of physics found everywhere.

en.wikipedia.org...

The mediocrity principle is the philosophical notion that "if an item is drawn at random from one of several sets or categories, it's likelier to come from the most numerous category than from any one of the less numerous categories". The principle has been taken to suggest that there is nothing very unusual about the evolution of the Solar System, Earth's history, the evolution of biological complexity, human evolution, or any one nation. It is a heuristic in the vein of the Copernican principle, and is sometimes used as a philosophical statement about the place of humanity. The idea is to assume mediocrity, rather than starting with the assumption that a phenomenon is special, privileged, exceptional, or even superior.

a reply to: projectvxn

1200 light years away, if it was populated and they could see us now they'd be seeing us during the period of the Roman Empire.

Holy crap on a cracker, that is incredible.

Oh wow...i hope this turns out to be real.

a reply to: Discotech

That's true.

If they are even there anymore. I think it is more likely that we will discover the remains of a long dead civilization before we find living alien beings.

a reply to: projectvxn

Or we could visit the planet and it's no longer there

I have a question, although i know the answer i think. Is it possible to resolve a disc for that star at this distance? Are there ANY pictures of any stars with resolved discs visible? Im assuming no, but i remember a few thread where people implied that it was and showed images to back that claim up. But i wasnt convinced.

originally posted by: Discotech
a reply to: projectvxn

1200 light years away, if it was populated and they could see us now they'd be seeing us during the period of the Roman Empire.

I wonder why the distance was given in kilometres in the title. I found that a bit odd.

a reply to: Bone75

It's a bit easier to conceptualize a kilometer for most people than it is to conceptualize parsecs.

You live knowing how many kilometers or miles you're going to travel that day. Even large distances can be imagined better with more familiar terms.

This is pretty fantastic! We need more satellites, surely if they can get this image 1500 light years away, they should be able to get better images of exoplanets that are only 0-500 light years away?

a reply to: projectvxn
It is not all that clear and it is not a real image but a radio signal translated into an image data.

Until it can be physically visited we will never know if it is habitable or what it truly looks like.

a reply to: ChesterJohn


Were you expecting high definition?

Also radio composite images ARE real images.

originally posted by: BASSPLYR
Wow neat discovery/pic.


Awesome to finally see a photo of a real planet around another star system.

It's absolutely not the first photo of an exoplanet.
en.wikipedia.org...


It's the first time the ESO has a clear picture of one. Maybe the first one in visible light only? I don't know enough about this to be honest.

It's important to learn to decode headlines

a reply to: SpaceGoatFart

I had no idea and this is something I've been waiting for.

Thanks for the information.