Skip to content
Starts With A Bang —

Watch: Four gas giants in orbit around another star for the first time

Sign up for Smart Faster newsletter
The most counterintuitive, surprising, and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every Thursday.

The outer three can even be seen with a small, 1.5 meter telescope.

This 2010 picture of three of the four known exoplanets orbiting HR 8799 represents the first time a telescope this small — less than a full-grown human being — was used to directly image an exoplanet. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Palomar Observatory.

When telescopes like JWST and GMT come online, we can start imaging the nearest Earth-like planets, and gas giants many hundreds of light years away.

A side-view of the completed GMT as it will look in the telescope enclosure. It will be able to image Earth-like worlds out to 30 light years away, and Jupiter-like worlds many hundreds of light years distant. Image credit: Giant Magellan Telescope — GMTO Corporation.

Mostly Mute Monday tells a story about our Universe in pictures, animations and no more than 200 words.

This post first appeared at Forbes, and is brought to you ad-free by our Patreon supporters. Comment on our forum, & buy our first book: Beyond The Galaxy!

Sign up for Smart Faster newsletter
The most counterintuitive, surprising, and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every Thursday.
Related
Up Next