APOD video here.
This is awesome. These planets are pretty far out, but I expect we’ll soon improve the techniques and be able to see planets in the habitable zone.
Wow. Amazing times we live in. Too bad we’ll never get to visit these worlds, though, even by Voyager-style unmanned craft (maybe) – but that was the subject of a different thread, almost a year ago.
These planets seem to be orbiting quite fast. The closest seems to be about the distance of Uranus but orbits far faster. I’m guessing that that’s because of the increased masses of both the star and the planets, right?
It would have to be the star. When the heavier object far outweighs the lighter one, the lighter one’s mass doesn’t influence the orbit speed almost at all.
Planet periods are around 45, 100, 190, and 460 years.
I was just talking to my 18 year old son about this last night as he has an interest in astronomy. When I did an astrophysics module as part of my physics degree in 1994, exoplanets were totally hypothetical. The first one was discovered in 95. So either I’m very old, or things are changing quickly.
The pictures in the time lapse were taken over seven years.