Distant Star Reveals Planet

I hope this is the real thing!
V



Cosmic Magnifying Glass: Distant Star Reveals Planet
April 15, 2004

Like Sherlock Holmes holding a magnifying glass to unveil hidden clues,
modern day astronomers used cosmic magnifying effects to reveal a planet
orbiting a distant star.

This marks the first discovery of a planet around a star beyond Earth's
solar system using gravitational microlensing. A star or planet can act
as a cosmic lens to magnify and brighten a more distant star lined up
behind it. The gravitational field of the foreground star bends and
focuses light, like a glass lens bending and focusing starlight in a
telescope. Albert Einstein predicted this effect in his theory of
general relativity and confirmed it with our Sun.

"The real strength of microlensing is its ability to detect low-mass
planets," said Dr. Ian Bond of the Institute for Astronomy in Edinburgh,
Scotland, lead author of a paper appearing in the May 10 Astrophysical
Journal Letters. The discovery was made possible through cooperation
between two international research teams: Microlensing Observations in
Astrophysics (Moa) and Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (Ogle).
Well-equipped amateur astronomers might use this technique to follow up
future discoveries and help confirm planets around other stars.

The newly discovered star-planet system is 17,000 light years away, in
the constellation Sagittarius. The planet, orbiting a red dwarf parent
star, is most likely one-and-a-half times bigger than Jupiter. The
planet and star are three times farther apart than Earth and the Sun.
Together, they magnify a farther, background star some 24,000 light
years away, near the Milky Way center.

rest of article at
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/2004/103.cfm

Victor wrote in message ...
I hope this is the real thing!
V

The newly discovered star-planet system is 17,000 light years away, in
the constellation Sagittarius. The planet, orbiting a red dwarf parent
star, is most likely one-and-a-half times bigger than Jupiter. The
planet and star are three times farther apart than Earth and the Sun.
Together, they magnify a farther, background star some 24,000 light
years away, near the Milky Way center.

That's a huge distance!

I'd have thought planet hunters would be focussed nearer by, perhaps
this technique does lend itself to long distances though.

I recall reading predictions a few years ago that extra solar planet
discoveries would start off as a trickle and become a flood in the
early part of the 21st century.

The discovery of rocky planets around 'nearby' stars would really get
people speculating. It's not entirely unreasonable to send a probe to
within 15 or so light years (sure, even if we could get it going fast
enough (70% c?) and have it send back a strong enough signal, it would
be decades from launch to data)

"gswork" wrote in message
om...
Victor wrote in message
...
I hope this is the real thing!
V

The newly discovered star-planet system is 17,000 light years away, in
the constellation Sagittarius. The planet, orbiting a red dwarf parent
star, is most likely one-and-a-half times bigger than Jupiter. The
planet and star are three times farther apart than Earth and the Sun.
Together, they magnify a farther, background star some 24,000 light
years away, near the Milky Way center.

That's a huge distance!

I'd have thought planet hunters would be focussed nearer by, perhaps
this technique does lend itself to long distances though.

I recall reading predictions a few years ago that extra solar planet
discoveries would start off as a trickle and become a flood in the
early part of the 21st century.

The discovery of rocky planets around 'nearby' stars would really get
people speculating. It's not entirely unreasonable to send a probe to
within 15 or so light years (sure, even if we could get it going fast
enough (70% c?) and have it send back a strong enough signal, it would
be decades from launch to data)

Are they saying they 'imaged' the planet? or are they saying they detected
it by doppler shift ...

"Anthony Garcia" wrote in
. com:


"gswork" wrote in message
om...
Victor wrote in message
...
I hope this is the real thing!
V

The newly discovered star-planet system is 17,000 light years away,
in the constellation Sagittarius. The planet, orbiting a red dwarf
parent star, is most likely one-and-a-half times bigger than
Jupiter. The planet and star are three times farther apart than
Earth and the Sun. Together, they magnify a farther, background
star some 24,000 light years away, near the Milky Way center.

That's a huge distance!

I'd have thought planet hunters would be focussed nearer by, perhaps
this technique does lend itself to long distances though.

I recall reading predictions a few years ago that extra solar planet
discoveries would start off as a trickle and become a flood in the
early part of the 21st century.

The discovery of rocky planets around 'nearby' stars would really get
people speculating. It's not entirely unreasonable to send a probe
to within 15 or so light years (sure, even if we could get it going
fast enough (70% c?) and have it send back a strong enough signal, it
would be decades from launch to data)

Are they saying they 'imaged' the planet? or are they saying they
detected it by doppler shift ...




And doppler shift gives the same result for the same movement no matter
what the distance.

Martin

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