The first image of an exoplanet, 2004

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Hubble Ultra-Deep Field (HUDF), 2004


The Hubble Ultra Deep Field is a composite image of astronomical objects in the constellation of the Pig, taken by combining multiple very long exposures. The HUDF was taken over a period of nearly a million seconds (11.3 days), covers 1/13,000,000 of the entire sky, and contains approximately 10,000 galaxies.

There are virtually no stars in this part of the sky that are located in our Galaxy, so almost everything we see in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field is very distant objects. The image is not only stunning, but also has practical significance. Light from the far reaches of the Universe takes a long time to reach Earth, so looking further into space means looking further into the past. Ultra deep fields have become a crucial tool for studying the evolution of the Universe. By comparing galaxies at different distances, we can try to trace how they have changed over time, and in particular, how star systems like ours form.

The large blue star in the frame is an ultra-cool brown dwarf, 2M1207, located in the constellation Centaurus, 170 light-years from Earth. It is orbited by a much fainter object, 2M1207 b, which is about 100 times lithuania number data fainter than its nearest star. It was only imaged in infrared light in 2004, and is believed to be the first exoplanet to be seen from Earth.

Exoplanets are planets outside the Solar System. They have been elusive for a long time because they are so far away from Earth. Scientists first learned to detect them by indirect signs, such as analyzing the radial velocity of stars using spectroscopy, and it was only 17 years ago that they were first imaged. To date, 4,708 exoplanets have been discovered.

Information about 2M1207 b is still incomplete, and there are doubts among the scientific community about whether it is correct to consider this object a planet. On the one hand, it meets the criteria for a gas giant: its surface temperature is 1300 ° C, and the mass is not enough to support the combustion of deuterium. But it is possible that it was formed by gravitational collapse, in which case it could be attributed to sub-brown dwarfs - objects of stellar origin, but too small a mass for thermonuclear reactions.

Curiosity selfie, 2012


The Curiosity rover is equipped with a significant number of video cameras: 17 in total. Most of them are located on the mast, but the MAHLI camera is held in the rover’s “hand”, and it was with its help that it was able to take this selfie. MAHLI also takes microscopic images of rocks and soil.