Basking in the Light of Alien Worlds

[Tuckerfan]

Light from extra-solar planets detected!

The glow of planets outside our solar system have been spotted in the first direct detections of light emitted by alien worlds.

The two planets were detected in infrared light, an emission of heat that is not visible to the human eye. There are no conventional photographs, but astronomers are ecstatic nonetheless.

The gas giant worlds, each around a different star, were discovered previously by noting the gravitational wobbles they induce in their host stars – an indirect method. Both are roughly Jupiter-sized and hot, orbiting very close to their stars. Each completes a “year” in less than four days.

The observations, called a milestone by one analyst, were a surprising and serendipitous convergence of work by two separate teams.

“It’s an awesome experience to realize we are seeing the glow of distant worlds,” said David Charbonneau, a researcher at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) who led the investigation of TrES-1, a planet a bit less massive than Jupiter that was found last year with the help of a backyard telescope.

I wonder how long it’ll be before we’re able to capture images of the worlds themselves.

[Regallag_The_Axe]

Very awesome.