Science History: Astronomers Discover First Planet Orbiting a Sun-Similar Star, Boosting Extraterrestrial Life Prospects — Nov. 1, 1995

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A depiction by an artist of Pegasi 51 b.(Image credit: NASA)Quick facts

Significant Event: Discovery of a Jupiter-sized world circling a far-off, sun-like star

When: Nov. 1, 1995

Where: Haute-Provence Observatory, France

Who: Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz

In the month of September 1994, a duo of Swiss astronomers situated at a small observatory located in southern France initiated directing their telescopes at a star around 50 light-years distant from our planet — and thus, established the domain of exoplanet studies.

This finding marked the primary stage in a much grander endeavor: demonstrating that we are not the only inhabitants of the cosmos. Carl Sagan along with other astronomers had commenced searching for extraterrestrial life as early as the 1960s, yet numerous of these endeavors concentrated on detecting radio waves or other intentional communications emanating from intelligent, technological entities.

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However, by the 1980s, astronomers came to understand that they could locate possibly habitable planets via examining the luminescence from their host stars. Astronomers had encountered indications of a planet revolving around a pulsar — an extremely dense, magnetized celestial object that emits radiation in a manner similar to a lighthouse. Nevertheless, the severe, damaging conditions encompassing a pulsar rendered it improbable that life could flourish there.

Furthermore, back in 1987, a Canadian group of astronomers believed they had detected a planet circling another star, only to determine five years afterward that the signal did not signify a planet. (Their preliminary supposition was finally validated in 2003.)

Therefore, Queloz and Mayor, who were astronomers employed at the Geneva Observatory during that era, started searching for irregularities in the courses of almost 150 smaller, more conventional stars.

Following a duration of observations, they noticed a limited number of stars exhibiting considerable variations, or oscillations, in their flight paths. They focused on one of these stars: Pegasi 51, situated around 50 light-years distant from our planet inside the Pegasus constellation. The middle-aged, main sequence star bore a strong resemblance to our sun, and the oscillation within the star’s velocity hinted that it was being swayed back and forth by a planet.

An examination of the star’s light revealed the planet, which scientists named 51 Pegasi b, or Dimidium. The astronomers deduced that the planet was plausibly a “hot Jupiter” — a massive gaseous planet in a very close orbit to its star. The team determined that Dimidium was a gas giant, superior in diameter to Jupiter, yet possessing around half the mass. It rotated merely 5 million miles (8 million kilometers) distant from its star. This near orbit implied that the planet finished one circuit surrounding its star once every 4.2 days. Shortly afterward, scientists working at the Lick Observatory in California validated the finding.

On Nov. 1, 1995, Queloz and Mayor detailed their discoveries within the journal Nature — thereby triggering a wave of exoplanet findings. In short order, numerous exoplanets were discovered, igniting a surge to seek out planets that could potentially support life as well as introducing novel methods for their discovery. In 2004, utilizing the Very Large Telescope situated in Chile, astronomers captured the inaugural photographic proof of an exoplanet orbiting a faraway star, followed by hundreds more shortly thereafter.

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In 2019, Mayor and Queloz were awarded the Nobel Prize in physics due to their contributions to Dimidium, sharing their honor alongside Canadian physicist James Peebles, who aided in calculating the amount of dark energy and dark matter present within the cosmos.

Across the succeeding three decades, astronomers would encounter numerous additional hot Jupiters, hell planets, super-Earths, water worlds and desert planets scattered throughout the universe. Up until the present moment, we are cognizant of a minimum of 6,000 exoplanets — and even though not one has been confirmed to sustain life as of yet, a handful of encouraging potentials have presented themselves.

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Tia GhoseSocial Links NavigationManaging Editor

Tia is the managing editor and previously held the role of a senior writer for Live Science. Her writings have been featured in Scientific American, Wired.com, and various other publications. She possesses a master’s degree in bioengineering obtained from the University of Washington, a graduate certificate in science journalism from UC Santa Cruz, and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering obtained from the University of Texas at Austin. Tia was a contributing member of a team working at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel which released the Empty Cradles series centered around premature births; the series garnered several accolades, including the 2012 Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism.

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