# Basking in the Light of Alien Worlds

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basking-in-the-light-of-alien-worlds/295843>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [March 23, 2005, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basking-in-the-light-of-alien-worlds/295843 "2005-03-23T04:41:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basking-in-the-light-of-alien-worlds/295843/1 "2005-03-23T04:41:23Z")

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[Light from extra-solar planets detected!](http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/030522_exoplanet_direct.html)

> [@](#):
>
> 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.

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**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basking-in-the-light-of-alien-worlds/295843/2 "2005-03-23T05:22:23Z")

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Very awesome.