TYC 8998-760-1: Multiple Planets around a Sun Like Star

Explanation: Do other stars have planets like our Sun? Previous evidence shows that they do, coming mostly from slight shifts in the star's light created by the orbiting planets. Recently , however, and for the first time, a pair of planets has been directly imaged around a Sun-like star. These exoplanets orbit the star designated TYC 8998-760-1 and are identified by arrows in the featured infrared image . At 17 million years old, the parent star is much younger than the 5-billion-year age of our Sun. Also, the exoplanets are both more massive and orbit further out than their Solar System analogues: Jupiter and Saturn . The exoplanets were found by the ESO 's Very Large Telescope in Chile by their infrared glow - after the light from their parent star was artificially blocked . As telescop e and technology improve over the next decade, it is hoped that planets more closely resembling our Earth will be directly imaged.

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