Finally, We Have The First Picture Of Another Solar System That is Similar to Ours

The European Southern Observatory (ESO), which is widely regarded as the world’s most productive astronomical observatory, has released the first image ever captured by a telescope of multiple planets orbiting around a sun-like star, looking just like our own solar system.

The image was taken by ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope set up in Chile’s Atacama Desert.

The newly discovered solar system is 300 light-years away from us, which is relatively close by galactic standards, according to scientists. Officially known as TYC 8998-760-1, the star is located in the Musca (or Fly) constellation. With its bare 17 million years of age, it is a toddler compared to our sun, which is believed to be 4.5 billion years old.

Lead researcher Alexander Bohn of Leiden University said the reason why the discovery was so exciting is that the star is “a very young version of our sun.” He said it provides “a snapshot of an environment that is very similar to our solar system but at a much earlier stage of its evolution.” The research findings were published 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.”

And direct imaging of two or more exoplanets around the same star is even more rare; only two such systems have been observed in this manner so far, both around stars that are very different from our Sun. ESO’s VLT image is the first direct image of more than one exoplanet orbiting a Sun-like star.

The new observations could help scientists better understand the evolution of our own solar system, Bohn said, adding that taking direct images provide the best chance to detect life outside our solar system, given it really exists.

In observing light from the planets themselves, “the atmospheres can be analyzed for molecules and elements that might suggest life,” he explained.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4