Tag Archives: Alien

Yes you two, near the big grey arrows there.

Are there other solar systems, just like ours, with planets orbiting a star? Well, stars we’ve seen, obviously, and – when the light is just right –  exoplanets. But never both in conjunction. Until now. To wit:

Recently, however, and for the first time, a pair of planets has been directly imaged around a Sun-like star. These exoplanets orbit the star designated TYC 8998-760-1 and are identified by arrows in the featured infrared image. At 17 million years old, the parent star is much younger than the 5-billion-year age of our Sun. Also, the exoplanets are both more massive and orbit further out than their Solar System analogues: Jupiter and Saturn. The exoplanets were found by the ESO‘s Very Large Telescope in Chile by their infrared glow – after the light from their parent star was artificially blocked. As telescope and technology improve over the next decade, it is hoped that planets more closely resembling our Earth will be directly imaged.

(Image: ESO, A. Bohn et al.)

apod

Illustrations from the weird and wonderful ‘Codex Seraphinianus’, written in the 1970s by by Italian artist Luigi Serafini. To wit:

Codex Seraphinianus is strange, even for the most open-minded readers. Codex Seraphinianus is essentially an encyclopedia about an alien world that is clearly a reflection of our own, with each chapter dealing with key facets of this surreal place, including the flora, fauna, science, machines, games, and architecture. However, it’s difficult to be exact because no-one has been able to understand even the ‘Contents’ page.

thisisntghappiness/juxtapoz