Tau1 Gruis, the star that the newly discovered exoplanet orbits around. Click on image for full size (120K BMP) Courtesy of NASA/JPL

Astronomers have identified another exoplanet, that is, a planet outside our solar system. This makes a total of 102 exoplanets that have so far been found by astronomers!

The astronomers that identified this exoplanet, have been searching outside our solar system for planets that are similar to Earth. They have been using the Anglo-Australian Telescope in New South Wales, Australia to search the southern skies. The planet they found is circling the star Tau1 Gruis and is three times as far from its star as Earth is from the Sun. The newly discovered planet has a mass similar to Jupiter’s and is about 100 light years away.

The solar system of this newly discovered planet is organized a bit like ours. The planets are strung out in a line from the star, with the larger ones furthest away. Now that researchers have found so many exoplanets, they can see patterns that suggest that solar systems like ours, with the high-mass planets orbiting much further out are more common than those whose high mass planets are clustered close to the star.

How do astronomers find exoplanets? They look for stars that appear to wobble because of the gravitational pull of orbiting planets. The wobble can be detected by a Doppler shift in the star’s light indicating the presence of a planet. This is then fine tuned to assess the planet’s distance from the star and mass.

After astronomers have a good idea which of the exoplanets are like Earth, their next step is to look for evidence of life by analyzing the chemistry of the planet and its atmosphere for molecules of carbon, carbon dioxide, and ozone. Perhaps they will someday find evidence that we are not alone in the universe!

Tau1 Gruis, the star that the newly discovered exoplanet orbits around. Click on image for full size (120K BMP) Courtesy of NASA/JPL

Astronomers have identified another exoplanet, that is, a planet outside our solar system. This makes a total of 102 exoplanets that have so far been found by astronomers!

The astronomers that identified this exoplanet, have been searching outside our solar system for planets that are similar to Earth. The planet they found is circling the star Tau1 Gruis and is three times as far from its star as Earth is from the Sun. The newly discovered planet has a mass similar to that of Jupiter. The solar system of this newly discovered planet is organized a bit like ours, with the planets strung out in a line from the star and the larger ones further away.

How do astronomers find exoplanets? They look for stars that appear to wobble because of the gravitational pull of orbiting planets. The wobble can be detected by a Doppler shift in the star’s light indicating the presence of a planet. This is then fine tuned to assess the planet’s distance from the star and mass.

After astronomers have a good idea which of the exoplanets are like Earth, their next step is to look for evidence of life by analyzing the chemistry of the planet and its atmosphere, searching for carbon, carbon dioxide, and ozone. Perhaps they will someday find evidence that we are not alone in the universe!

Tau1 Gruis, the star that the newly discovered exoplanet orbits around. Click on image for full size (120K BMP) Courtesy of NASA/JPL

Astronomers have found another planet outside our solar system. That makes a total of 102 exoplanets that have been found so far!

The astronomers that found the exoplanet, have been searching outside our solar system for planets like Earth. The planet they found is three times as far from its star as Earth is from the Sun and its mass is like Jupiter’s.

The solar system of the discovered planet looks a bit like ours. The planets are strung out in a line from the star with the larger planets further away from the star.

To look for exoplanets, astronomers look for far-away stars that look like they sway back and forth. They look like they sway because the planets pull on the star as they orbit around it.

After astronomers find exoplanets that are like Earth, they will look for evidence of life. Perhaps they will someday find that we are not alone in the universe!