Phil Plait has the all-caps news, but it’s too huge to keep to one website.
Hubble has spotted a planet around Fomalhaut, the brightest star in Aquarius. This isn’t your normal “oh yeah we’ve seen evidence for a planet through wiggles in spectral lines” planetary discovery, this is an actual picture of a planet.
And that’s not all! Gemini North spotted two planets around a star named HR 8799. Two! It’s the first image of a planetary system outside our own!
Just go read Plait’s story about the new planets. He does this awesome discovery justice.
Edit: because Phil’s picture is flagged as private, here are the two pictures of the three planets:
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- Fomalhaut with planet
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- HR 8799 with two planets
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#1 by Chris on November 13th, 2008
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Very cool, though I’m disappointed that the Flickr image is marked as private.
#2 by Brad on November 13th, 2008
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I didn’t bother to load the Flickr link because Phil’s page had the pictures in-line. I’ve saved them here so now you can see them in all their gory details. :-)
#3 by Will on November 14th, 2008
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Theres some decent info on the NRC site, and there was interview coverage on CBC yesterday evening.
http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/highlights/2008/0811hia_e.html
http://www.gemini.edu/threeplanetart
http://www.cbc.ca/mrl3/8752/news/features/sci-planets081113.wmv
I can’t find the interview by Jo-Ann Roberts from All Points West (CBC 1) with Dr. Marois yesterday (November 13) between 5 – 5:30ppm
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081113-two-reports-detail-imaging-of-extrasolar-planets.html
I guess it makes up for the election blackout faffing the “OMG sn0wzzz!” announcement for the mars mission.