Astronomers take a picture of an extrasolar planet 63 light-years away

Astronomers from the Max Planck Institutes have confirmed the existence of an exoplanet in another star system some 63 light-years away from Earth – and they have shared an image to prove it, as a photo of the planet called b c painter, Using the radial velocity method that detects exoplanets, along with large telescopes VLT In Chile, which allowed experts to see the “sparkle of light”.

According to the British “Daily Mail” website, he is preparing A painter c, Which is in the system Beta PictorisIt is the second planet outside the solar system to be found orbiting its parent star, and by combining the light of the four large telescopes VLT , Astronomers were able to observe the flash of light coming from an exoplanet near its original star.

Sylvester Lacour, commander of the surveillance program, said ExoGRAVITY: “This is the first direct confirmation of a planet that was discovered by the method of radial velocity. As a general rule, the larger the planet, the more bright it is. However, the data of the two planets leaves room for ambiguity.”

The researchers noted that the light coming from A painter c Six times lighter than its older brother, B Pictoris B, but it is also eight times the mass of Jupiter.

Radial velocity measurements are the gold standard among astronomers when it comes to spotting exoplanets – a method that has identified hundreds, however, confirming b c painter It is the first time that the measurement has been used to directly observe an exoplanet.