Hubble Sees Planet Circling Another Star for the First Time

HST Image of Fomalhaut and Fomalhaut b

This image, taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, shows the newly discovered planet, Fomalhaut b, orbiting its parent star, Fomalhaut. The small white box at lower right pinpoints the planet's location. Fomalhaut b has carved a path...

HST ACS/HRC Wide View of Fomalhaut System

This image of the area around the star Fomalhaut was taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys instrument aboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The region around Fomalhaut's location is black because astronomers used the Advanced Camera's coronagraph to block out the star's...

HST ACS/HRC Wide View of Fomalhaut b Planet in 2004 and 2006

Artist's Concept of Exoplanet Orbiting Fomalhaut

This illustration shows the newly discovered planet, Fomalhaut b, orbiting its sun, Fomalhaut. A structure comprised mostly of brown and gold colors surrounds Fomalhaut b. This structure is a Saturn-like ring that astronomers say may encircle the planet. Fomalhaut also is...

Annotated Illustration of Fomalhaut System

This image, taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, shows the newly discovered planet, Fomalhaut b, orbiting its parent star, Fomalhaut. The small white box at lower right pinpoints the planet's location. Fomalhaut b has carved a path...

Comparison of Fomalhaut System and Solar System

Ground-Based Image with Location of Fomalhaut

Hubble Proves Existence of a Planet Orbiting Another Star

For the first time ever, astronomers have confirmed the existence of a planet orbiting another star. The planet, called Fomalhaut b, orbits the bright southern star Fomalhaut and is located 25 light-years away from Earth. Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys captured...

Simulation of the Path of the Planet Orbiting the Star Fomalhaut

This simulation depicts the orbit of the planet Fomalhaut b around its parent star. Its path around the star is extremely asymmetric and lies inside a debris disk that is being shaped by the gravitational influence of this planet.

Fomalhaut System Illustration (Pan and Zoom)

This artist's rendition shows a planet circling a star 16 times brighter than our sun. The planet is estimated to complete a full orbit around the star Fomalhaut in 872 years. For a planet three times the size of our Jupiter, it is much brighter than expected. One possibility is...