No, unfortunately we have not made contact with any alien races just yet. But the next best thing has happened. For the first time ever, astronomers have taken direct pictures of planets from outside of our solar system that are orbiting distant stars.
Using the Gemini North telescope and the W. M. Keck Observatory on Hawaii's Mauna Kea, researchers observed in infrared light three planets orbiting around a star about 130 light-years away from Earth, called HR 8799. The discovery, published today in Science Express, is a step forward in the hunt for planets, and life, beyond Earth.
The alien system is supersized compared to our own: All three planets are gas giants, weighing roughly 10, 10 and 7 times the mass of Jupiter, circling a parent star 1.5 times the mass of our sun, and 5 times as bright. The giant bodies (two of which are pictured above) are orbiting at roughly 25, 40, and 70 times the distance between Earth and our sun. If there are Earth-sized planets present, they are too small to see with current technology.
Planets from outside our own solar system have been known about for a while now, but we've only been able to determine their presence through the wobble of the stars they orbit as their gravitational pull affects the star. Never before have we seen direct evidence of the existence of other planets. Now we have pictures of them.
This is an amazing moment in history. Photographic proof that we are not the only solar system in the universe. And if there are planets around other stars, then there could possibly be life out there somewhere too.
Goddamn, science is awesome!!!
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