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Planet Orbiting 51 Eridani

This video shows a Jupiter-sized exoplanet orbiting far away — roughly 11 billion miles — from a nearby, Sun-like star, 51 Eridani. The planetary system is oriented face-on toward Earth, giving astronomers a unique bird’s-eye view of the planet’s motion. The video consists of five images taken over four years with the Gemini South Telescope’s Gemini Planet Imager, in Chile. Gemini’s coronagraph blocks out most of the starlight so that the much fainter and smaller exoplanet can be seen.

  • Release Date
    April 21, 2021
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Webb to Study Young Exoplanets on the Edge
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Video: GPIES Team, Jason Wang (Caltech)

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Direct image of the exoplanet 51 Eridani b from the Gemini Planet Imager/GPI. In the center, against a largely blue background, is an opaque white circle indicating where light from the central star, 51 Eridani, was blocked. A dotted-white circle surrounds the central star and takes up about a sixth of the overall image. To the top left of the dotted circle is the label "Size of Saturn’s orbit around the Sun." A small white dot appears between 5 and 6 o’clock and is labeled "b."

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Planets Orbiting HR 8799

This video shows four Jupiter-sized exoplanets orbiting billions of miles away from their star in the nearby HR 8799 system. The planetary system is oriented face-on toward Earth, giving astronomers a unique bird’s-eye view of the planets’ motion. The exoplanets are orbiting so...

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Details

Last Updated
Aug 28, 2025
Contact
Media

Laura Betz
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
laura.e.betz@nasa.gov

Video Credit

GPIES Team, Jason Wang (Caltech)

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