Hubble Zeroes in on Nearest Known ExoplanetAstronomers determined the planet's mass and orbital tilt in 2006 by using Hubble to measure the unseen planet's gravitational pull on the star as it slowly moved across the sky. Evidence for the planet first appeared in 2000 when astronomers measured a telltale wobble in the star... The Jupiter-sized world orbits the Sun-like star Epsilon Eridani, which is only 10.5 light-years away (approximately 63 trillion miles). The planet is so close it may be observable by Hubble and large ground-based telescopes in late 2007, when the planet makes its closest approach to Epsilon Eridani during its 6.9-year orbit. The Hubble observations were achieved by a team led by G. Fritz Benedict and Barbara E. McArthur of the University of Texas at Austin. The observations reveal the the planet's true mass, which the team has calculated to be 1.5 times Jupiter's mass. Hubble also found that the planet's orbit is tilted 30 degrees to our line of sight, which is the same inclination as a disk of dust and gas that also encircles Epsilon Eridani. This is a particularly exciting result because, although it has long been inferred that planets form from such disks, this is the first time that the two objects have been observed around the same star.
Newswise
Gosh, it's too bad the HST is washed up and obsolete. ;')
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/2006/32/
EXCLUSIVE: First Confirmed Picture of a Planet Beyond the Solar System
Space.com | April 1, 2005 | Robert Roy Britt
Posted on 04/01/2005 2:35:44 PM EST by conservativecorner
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1375632/posts
"The planet's rings and satellites are purely hypothetical in this view, but plausible."
Something about that bothers me...fake but (potentially) accurate?
Disk around AU Microscopii
A Hubble Space Telescope image of the disk of gas and dust surrounding red dwarf star AU Microscopii. Planets may be forming, or already orbiting, within the disk. The image was taken December 9, 2004. Credit: NASA, ESA, J.E. Krist (STScI/JPL); D.R. Ardila (JHU); D.A. Golimowski (JHU); M. Clampin (NASA/Goddard); H.C. Ford (JHU); G.D. Illingworth (UCO-Lick); G.F. Hartig (STScI) and the ACS Science Team
