Astronomers Report Seeing Light Reflected by Extrasolar Planet

Astronomers say they might have seen the first reflected light from a planet outside our solar system. More than two dozen extrasolar planets have been discovered, but astronomers have only inferred their existence by looking for a wobble in a star’s path. The wobble is thought to be caused by the gravity of an orbiting planet.

In the latest research, reported in today’s Nature, British astronomers still haven’t actually seen a planet; they have detected starlight that they believe is being reflected by a planet orbiting Tau Bootis, 50 light-years from Earth. The researchers claim to have seen reflected light whose wavelength is shifted because of the planet’s rapid rotation around the star. But other researchers have not yet been able to reproduce the findings.

*

Compiled by Times medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II