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APOD
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Planets Around Sun-Like Stars
Explanation: Do many Sun -like stars have planets? Speculation on this point has been ongoing since humanity's realization that other stars existed . Only in the past year, however, have answers and discoveries been realized. The above plot summarizes the four known cases of normal stars having planets. These cases are: our Solar System , 51 Pegasi , 70 Virgini , and 47 Ursae Majoris . The later two cases were discovered by astronomers led by Geoff Marcy and Paul Butler as part of a greater project inspecting 120 stars for orbiting planets. Interestingly enough, the planets around the later two stars have temperatures in the right range to allow liquid water - and hence may have conditions ripe for the development of life .
| Date | January 31, 1996 |
|---|---|
| Credit | E. Williams, G. Marcy, and L.-A. McConnaughey, (UC Berkeley), (SFSU) |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |