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Credit & Copyright: J. Wang
(UC Berkeley) &
C. Marois
(Herzberg Astrophysics),
NExSS
(NASA),
Keck Obs.
Explanation:
Does life exist outside our Solar System?
To help find out, NASA has created the
Nexus
for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS) to better locate and study distant star
systems that hold hope of harboring living inhabitants.
A new observational result from a NExSS collaboration is the
featured time-lapse video
of recently discovered planets orbiting the star HR 8799.
The images for
the video
were taken over seven years from the
Keck Observatory in Hawaii.
Four
exoplanets appear
as white dots partially circling their parent star, purposefully occluded in the
center.
The central star HR 8799
is slightly larger and more massive than
our Sun, while each of the planets
is thought to be a few times the mass of
Jupiter.
The HR
8799 system lies about 130
light
years
away toward the constellation of the Flying Horse
(Pegasus).
Research will now
continue on whether any known or potential planets --
or even moons of these planets -- in the
HR
8799 star system could
harbor life.
Open Science:
Browse 1,400+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code Library
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: extrasolar planet
Publications with words: extrasolar planet
See also:
- APOD: 2024 July 8 Á Exoplanet Zoo: Other Stars
- Temperatures on Exoplanet WASP 43b
- Epsilon Tauri: Star with Planet
- APOD: 2023 October 17 Á PDS 70: Disk, Planets, and Moons
- APOD: 2023 September 20 Á Methane Discovered on Distant Exoplanet
- APOD: 2023 June 6 Á Star Eats Planet
- APOD: 2023 February 1 Á The Seventh World of Trappist 1