UF astronomers have found evidence that the first planet ever photographed outside of the solar system by the Hubble Space Telescope may not be the only planet orbiting its host star. The host star is about 25 light years from Earth.
The low-mass body, which orbits the star Fomalhaut in a ring of debris, was discovered by a team of researchers, including UF astronomers, using the Atacama Large Millimeter Array in Chile.
In 2008, images of Fomalhaut taken by the Hubble Space Telescope led to the discovery of “Fomalhaut b,” the first planet outside of our solar system to be directly detected in visible light. But the new research has indicated that there are two planets shaping the star’s debris ring, according to a UF news release.
“The outer planet is something we are proposing,” said Aaron Boley, a Sagan Postdoctoral Fellow at UF and leader of the study.
Before this, planet formation researchers had only researched planets as distant from their host stars as planets in Earth’s solar system are from the sun.
At its farthest point, the new planet would orbit Fomalhaut at about 14.5 billion miles away, or about 155 times the distance the Earth is from the sun.
Boley said that the next step for the astronomers is to look for material affected by planet gravity in the surrounding debris ring to determine the locations and masses of both Fomalhaut b and the new planet.
He said he hopes the planets can be used for research on the early stages of planet formation.
