First ever image of a multi-planet system around a sun-like star
captured by ESO telescope

Date:
July 22, 2020
Source:
ESO
Summary:
The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope has taken
the first ever image of a young, Sun-like star accompanied by
two giant exoplanets. Images of systems with multiple exoplanets
are extremely rare, and -- until now -- astronomers had never
directly observed more than one planet orbiting a star similar
to the Sun. The observations can help astronomers understand how
planets formed and evolved around our own Sun.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT)
has taken the first ever image of a young, Sun-like star accompanied
by two giant exoplanets. Images of systems with multiple exoplanets
are extremely rare, and -- until now -- astronomers had never directly
observed more than one planet orbiting a star similar to the Sun. The observations can help astronomers understand how planets formed and
evolved around our own Sun.


==========================================================================
Just a few weeks ago, ESO revealed a planetary system being born in a new, stunning VLT image. Now, the same telescope, using the same instrument,
has taken the first direct image of a planetary system around a star like
our Sun, located about 300 light-years away and known as TYC 8998-760-1.

"This discovery is a snapshot of an environment that is very similar to
our Solar System, but at a much earlier stage of its evolution," says
Alexander Bohn, a PhD student at Leiden University in the Netherlands, who
led the new research published today in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

"Even though astronomers have indirectly detected thousands of planets in
our galaxy, only a tiny fraction of these exoplanets have been directly imaged," says co-author Matthew Kenworthy, Associate Professor at Leiden University, adding that "direct observations are important in the search
for environments that can support life." The direct imaging of two or more exoplanets around the same star is even more rare; only two such systems
have been directly observed so far, both around stars markedly different
from our Sun. The new ESO's VLT image is the first direct image of more
than one exoplanet around a Sun-like star. ESO's VLT was also the first telescope to directly image an exoplanet, back in 2004, when it captured
a speck of light around a brown dwarf, a type of 'failed' star.

"Our team has now been able to take the first image of two gas giant
companions that are orbiting a young, solar analogue," says Maddalena
Reggiani, a postdoctoral researcher from KU Leuven, Belgium, who also participated in the study. The two planets can be seen in the new image
as two bright points of light distant from their parent star, which is
located in the upper left of the frame (click on the image to view the
full frame). By taking different images at different times, the team
were able to distinguish these planets from the background stars.

The two gas giants orbit their host star at distances of 160 and about
320 times the Earth-Sun distance. This places these planets much further
away from their star than Jupiter or Saturn, also two gas giants, are
from the Sun; they lie at only 5 and 10 times the Earth-Sun distance, respectively. The team also found the two exoplanets are much heavier
than the ones in our Solar System, the inner planet having 14 times
Jupiter's mass and the outer one six times.

Bohn's team imaged this system during their search for young, giant
planets around stars like our Sun but far younger. The star TYC 8998-760-1
is just 17 million years old and located in the Southern constellation
of Musca (The Fly).

Bohn describes it as a "very young version of our own Sun." These images
were possible thanks to the high performance of the SPHERE instrument
on ESO's VLT in the Chilean Atacama desert. SPHERE blocks the bright
light from the star using a device called coronagraph, allowing the
much fainter planets to be seen. While older planets, such as those in
our Solar System, are too cool to be found with this technique, young
planets are hotter, and so glow brighter in infrared light. By taking
several images over the past year, as well as using older data going
back to 2017, the research team have confirmed that the two planets are
part of the star's system.

Further observations of this system, including with the future ESO
Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), will enable astronomers to test
whether these planets formed at their current location distant from
the star or migrated from elsewhere. ESO's ELT will also help probe the interaction between two young planets in the same system. Bohn concludes:
"The possibility that future instruments, such as those available on the
ELT, will be able to detect even lower-mass planets around this star
marks an important milestone in understanding multi-planet systems,
with potential implications for the history of our own Solar System."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by ESO. Note: Content may be edited
for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Alexander J. Bohn, Matthew A. Kenworthy, Christian Ginski,
Steven Rieder,
Eric E. Mamajek, Tiffany Meshkat, Mark J. Pecaut, Maddalena
Reggiani, Jozua de Boer, Christoph U. Keller, Frans Snik, John
Southworth. Two Directly Imaged, Wide-orbit Giant Planets around
the Young, Solar Analog TYC 8998-760-1. The Astrophysical Journal,
2020; 898 (1): L16 DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aba27e ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200722093501.htm

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