Super-sensitive Camera Captures a Direct Image of an Exoplanet

[bananas]

Source: Universe Today

The Gemini Planet Imager’s first light image of Beta Pictoris b (Processing by Christian Marois, NRC Canada)

The world’s newest and most powerful exoplanet imaging instrument, the recently-installed Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) on the 8-meter Gemini South telescope, has captured its first-light infrared image of an exoplanet: Beta Pictoris b, which orbits the star Beta Pictoris, the second-brightest star in the southern constellation Pictor. The planet is pretty obvious in the image above as a bright clump of pixels just to the lower right of the star in the middle (which is physically covered by a small opaque disk to block glare.) But that cluster of pixels is really a distant planet 63 light-years away and several times more massive — as well as 60% larger — than Jupiter!

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And GPI doesn’t just image distant Jupiter-sized exoplanets; it images them quickly.

“Even these early first-light images are almost a factor of ten better than the previous generation of instruments,” said Macintosh. “ In one minute, we were seeing planets that used to take us an hour to detect.”

The GPI integration team celebrating after obtaining first light images (Gemini Observatory)

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Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/107854/super-sensitive-camera-captures-a-direct-image-of-an-exoplanet/

[SCVDem]

1. Nerds!

I love nerds!

Good job people!

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

6. One of them is levitating in the photo.

[htuttle]

8. Common side effect of nerdgasms

[Spitfire of ATJ]

9. They tried for all of them....

Two were premature exulterators.

[herding cats]

2. That is amazing!

I love how they all look so happy. All it takes is some super fast planet imaging to bring out the party in some folks!

[Katashi_itto]

3. Finally REAL NEWS instead of stuff from the outrage brigade

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

7. Who are the OBers?

[Ash_F]

4. Awesome.

I wonder how far we are from seeing images of Earth sized planets.

[arcane1]

5. Hell yes!!!

What a time to be alive!

[longship]

10. Science rulez!!! Geeks rule!!!

Eat it, woo-woo!

Science delivers the goods.

[sakabatou]

11. Another "Hot Jupiter"

Can't wait to see a lot of Earth-size planets

[postatomic]

12. My only regret about growing old

I fear I will miss out on something incredible.