This is an artist's illustration of the Upsilon Andromedae A planetary system, where three Jupiter-type planets orbit the yellow-white star Upsilon Andromedae A. Astronomers have recently discovered that not all planets orbit this star in the same plane, as the major planets in our solar system orbit the Sun. The orbits of two of the planets are inclined by 30 degrees with respect to each other. Such a strange orientation has never before been seen in any other planetary system. This surprising finding will impact theories of how planetary systems form and evolve, say researchers. It suggests that some violent events can happen to disrupt planets' orbits after a planetary system forms. The discovery was made by joint observations with the Hubble Space Telescope, the Hobby-Eberly Telescope, and other ground-based telescopes.
Credits
Illustration: NASA, ESA, and A. Feild (STScI);Science: NASA, ESA, and B. McArthur (The University of Texas at Austin, McDonald Observatory)
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | Upsilon Andromedae |
| Object Description | Star with Planetary System |
| R.A. Position | 01h 36m 47s.76 |
| Dec. Position | +41° 24' 18".9 |
| Constellation | Andromeda |
| Distance | 44 light-years (13.6 parsecs) |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The Hubble data are from the HST proposals , , and : G. Benedict and B. McArthur (University of Texas, Austin), E. Nelan (STScI), M. McGrath (NASA/MSFC), P. Butler (Carnegie Institution of Washington), G. Marcy (University of California, Berkeley), A. Hatzes (Tautenburg Observatory, Germany), B. Cochran (University of Texas, Austin), and G. Gatewood (University of Pittsburgh). Note: The discovery was made by joint observations from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET), and other ground-based telescopes. The Hobby-Eberly Telescope is located at the University of Texas at Austin's McDonald Observatory. Spectroscopic observations of the Upsilon Andromedae system were taken with the HET's High Resolution Spectrograph from August 2004 through July 2008. |
| Instrument | HST>FGS |
| Exposure Dates | December 2001 - August 2006 |
| Filters | F5ND and F583W |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
