Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2020 August 18

           TYC 8998-760-1: Multiple Planets around a Sun Like Star
                      Image Credit: ESO, A. Bohn et al.

   Explanation: Do other stars have planets like our Sun? Previous
   evidence shows that they do, coming mostly from slight shifts in the
   star's light created by the orbiting planets. Recently, however, and
   for the first time, a pair of planets has been directly imaged around a
   Sun-like star. These exoplanets orbit the star designated TYC
   8998-760-1 and are identified by arrows in the featured infrared image.
   At 17 million years old, the parent star is much younger than the
   5-billion-year age of our Sun. Also, the exoplanets are both more
   massive and orbit further out than their Solar System analogues:
   Jupiter and Saturn. The exoplanets were found by the ESO's Very Large
   Telescope in Chile by their infrared glow - after the light from their
   parent star was artificially blocked. As telescope and technology
   improve over the next decade, it is hoped that planets more closely
   resembling our Earth will be directly imaged.

   Experts Debate: How will humanity first discover extraterrestrial life?
                        Tomorrow's picture: sun spin
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.


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