Thursday March 24, 2005

Planets Outside Our Solar System Viewed For The First Time

Astronomers using the Spitzer Space Telescope have viewed extra-solar planets for the first time. Previous efforts to discover these alien wanderers have relied upon unexplained variations in the orbital paths of other bodies.

Now astronomers can use infrared photography to view these planets directly. From NASA's press release:

"Spitzer has provided us with a powerful new tool for learning about the temperatures, atmospheres and orbits of planets hundreds of light-years from Earth," said Dr. Drake Deming of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., lead author of a new study on one of the planets.

Posted in: Brain :: Science by bubblejam at 02:59 PM

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