Images - Extrasolar planets

Extrasolar Planets

Just as the 'Millennium Planet' was discovered at the end of 1999, on 15 October 2001 an Anglo-Australian team of astronomers announced a new gas-giant planet. Many more followed. . .

'The Millennium Planet' depicts a planet of the star tau Boötis ~ a huge, bluish gas giant, bigger than Jupiter. At the time, this was thought to be the first visual confirmation of such a world. I postulated a close moon, which would be tidally disrupted, giving rise to tectonic and volcanic features ~ hence the glows on its night side. There may also be active aurorae around the poles of the gas giant. (It was later announced that an instrumental glitch could also have produced these results; however, such planets do exist! See below:)
Note: A beautiful signed poster of this is available from AstroArt. It measures 61 x 78cm, with fully detailed notes about the discovery, the planet, and the team of astronomers etc. Only £14.95, postfree in UK (overseas please ask) Sent in postal tube. A4 or A3 prints of the others also available ~ as with most images on this website ~ @ £20 or £30. For details of payment etc., click here. Go to the BBC site to see where this image is used!
October 2001 The possible scene from a moon orbiting an extrasolar planet in orbit around the star HD 23079. The planet is about three times the mass of Jupiter and orbits the star in 628 days, with a nearly circular orbit of one and half times the Earth-Sun distance (almost the same as that of Mars).
December 2001 I was asked to produce a painting, this time, of an actual Earthlike extrasolar planet. Here it is, seen from a small, close satellite, above which its star (or sun) is rising. This image has appeared in a number of publications.
September 2002: 100th exoplanet found Also a commission from PPARC ~ a newly discovered planet of Tau Gruis. It has about the mass of Jupiter, is three times as far from its star as Earth is from the Sun, and circles it in about four years. I have shown it with a ring, though of course this has not been observed! (The full story may also be found on the National Geographic website.)
October 2002 A 'warped disc' was found around the brilliant white star Fomalhaut. Within this is a Saturn-sized planet (which I have shown as looking rather like Saturn, though this is mainly imagination). The planet (and two inner ones) leave a trail in the doughnut-like dust-cloud. The full story may also be found on the PPARC website.
July 2003 The bright star HD70642, visible with binoculars toward the constellation of Puppis, was already known to be a star like our Sun. Now a planet with twice Jupiter's mass has been discovered in a nearly circular orbit at approximately half the orbital distance of Jupiter. Such an orbit allows the possibility of habitable Earth-type planets orbiting further in. This was 'Astronomy Picture of the Day' on 10 July 2003. (Courtesy PPARC)
For more information on these extrasolar planets, please go to: Liverpool John Moores University University of California Planet Search Project and the Australian site Also the BBC's News Online site, and the Planetary Society

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