The first visible-light snapshot of a planet outside our solar system.

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2008/39/image/a/


All previous discoveries of planents have been non visible-light predictions. The predictions are made by deducing the mass and orbit of planetary body based on the wobble of its host star. The wobble in the host star is the result of the gravitational effect between the star and the planet(s) that is orbiting it.

Another method measures the amout of light that dims as a planet passes in front of its host star. Our line of site on the star system must be perfect in that the host star, the planet and our plant must all be in alignment for the method to work. The planet is never seen in visible light, the host stars light is dimmed as the planet passes in front of it.

Now lets see if any other telescopes can zoom in on the planet to get a better idea of its make up, James Webb Telescope WHERE ARE YOU! O yeah, still being built.

Cheers,

Without knowing the intensity of Fomalhaut is it safe to say that at over 10 billion miles away it would be too cold to sustain any sort of "life" as we know it?

Depends how big the star is compared to ours I would think but considering Earth is 91 million miles from the sun I would guess that it is probably too cold.

That particular planet would not receive enough energy from its sun to sustain any meaningful life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fomalhaut

Fomalhaut (star):
- is believed to be a young star, only 200 to 300 million years old, with a potential lifespan of only a billion years.
- the surface temperature of the star is around 8,500 K (14,840 °F/8,230 °C)
- its mass is about 2.3 times more than the Sun
- its luminosity is about 15
- it is surrounded by a belt of dust in a toroidal shape with a very sharp inner edge at a radial distance of 133 AU.
- the dust is distributed in a belt about 25 AU wide.
- Fomalhaut's dusty disk is believed to be protoplanetary.

Scale:
- 1 AU - Distance from the Sun to Earth
- 5.4 AU - Distance from the Sun to Jupiter
- 75.6 AU - Approximate distance from Fomalhuat to the discovered planet
- 25 light years - Distance from Earth to Fomalhaut
- 1 light year = 63,240 AU

System:
On November 13, 2008, astronomers announced the discovery of an extrasolar planet orbiting just inside the debris ring. This was the first extrasolar planet to be seen with visible light, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.[4] The mass of the planet, Fomalhaut b, is estimated to be no more than three times the mass of Jupiter[5][6] and at least the mass of Neptune.[7] There are indications that the planet's orbit is not apsidally-aligned with the dust disk, which may indicate that additional planets may be responsible for the dust disk's structure. In addition, the Hipparcos satellite detected an anomalous proper acceleration, with a magnitude too large to be caused by Fomalhaut b. This may indicate the presence of a brown dwarf with around 30 times the mass of Jupiter orbiting approximately 5 AU from the star. Modelling indicates that such a brown dwarf could have significant effects on the shape of the dust disk if its orbital eccentricity exceeds 0.2.[8]

I am sure we will see many, many more discoveries like this become the norm in the very near future. A new generation of planet finding probes are in the slot for launch in the coming years, not to mention the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Webb_Space_Telescope) coming on line in 2013.


Cheers,

Quickly followed by the first multi planet image:

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Seeing_A_Distant_Planet_999.html

Three planets were imaged around HR8799 which is about 130 light years from Earth.

This time though the observations were made from a ground based system with adaptive optics:

Using high-contrast, near-infrared adaptive optics observations with the Keck and Gemini telescopes, the team of researchers from Livermore, the NRC Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics in Canada, Lowell Observatory, University of California Los Angeles, and several other institutions were able to see three orbiting planetary companions to HR8799.


Cheers,

Wonder what happens if we look out over the expanse of space and see......
Ourselves looking back at us? :-O

Captain Picard has been there, done that =)

It's said... if you travel far enough you will eventually meet yourself.
I will tell you this... it's a very unnerving experience, one I hope never to repeat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Squared_(TNG_episode)


Cheers,

It's always been interesting to me, given the vastness of space, that we still have folks that claim we're the only intelligent life present in our universe.

Now with visual proof of other planets, even as foggy as they are, how could folks still claim to be this arrogant?

There, imho, is endless potential for life in one form or another.

It remains interesting to me people consider us to be intelligent life a lot of the time!

That particular planet would not receive enough energy from its sun to sustain any meaningful life.


That's assuming that only life like here on earth is all that exists.

No, that's assuming any life that needs any net energy input to stay above near freezing while surviving in the upper atmosphere of a gas giant. I didn't specify earthlike. Any sort of self-replicating compound precursing an organism will require some sort of protein like structure and a large amount of ambient energy (relatively speaking).

On that point (the ambient energy issue), it's interesting to note that earth is atypical in the level of vulcanism present; and the available evidence suggests that the first faithfully self-replicating structures here on earth (ribozymes, aka self-replicating RNAs) arose at the interface of wave action and cooling magma. Sunlight in a *direct* sense didn't assume primacy as an energy source until much later, when the enzymes that allowed photosynthesis became available - prior to that, primitive organisms used metal ions/hydrogen sulfide as electron donors/acceptors. Given a source of periodic gravitational energy (a close-by planet, or large moon, something else the Earth is atypical in possessing) and/or an internally generated energy source/source of periodicity, liquid water or temperatures to support it might not be necessary at all.

I think a more relevant question may well be: will we recognize novel forms of life for what they are when we encounter them?

Regards,
Nydia

That rock just moved!

I think a more relevant question may well be: will we recognize novel forms of life for what they are when we encounter them?



When it bites us, or tries to lay its eggs in us, of course....

It's always been interesting to me, given the vastness of space, that we still have folks that claim we're the only intelligent life present in our universe.

Now with visual proof of other planets, even as foggy as they are, how could folks still claim to be this arrogant?

There, imho, is endless potential for life in one form or another.

The paradox of this is where are their signals? Until we see signals, we're the first. The moment we do, watch it change global priorities.

True, but again the sheer vast nature and the fact that any signal of strength isn't omni but instead is directional would make that amazing if we did pick up a signal.

Unless it's an intentional signal sent to contact us the odds of finding one randomly are very very unlikely.

Has anyone bothered to take a simple tricorder reading of this?

Has anyone bothered to take a simple tricorder reading of this?
OMG.... He's dead Jim!


Cheers,

Dammit Jim I'm a Doctor not a bricklayer!!

Hehe, they're probably out there waiting for we Earthfolk to become Intelligent before they make themselves known.

Couldn't tidal heating provide energy, at least for a while?

There are already power plants being tested using Tidal. Seems I recall reading something being developed in England.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081125090344.htm

Interesting bit about detecting precursors to known compounds in space, although you have to read the original publication as linked to really get to that.