Hubble image archive
Artist's Impression of a Transiting Exoplanet
This is an artist's impression of a Jupiter-sized planet passing in front of its parent star. Such events are called transits. When the planet transits the star, the star's apparent brightness drops by a few percent for a short period. Through this technique, astronomers can use...
- Date
- Jan 1, 2007
- Mission
- Hubble Space Telescope
- Archive ID
- hubblesite-images-2007-16-2109-image
This is an artist's impression of a Jupiter-sized planet passing in front of its parent star. Such events are called transits. When the planet transits the star, the star's apparent brightness drops by a few percent for a short period. Through this technique, astronomers can use the Hubble Space Telescope to search for planets across the galaxy by measuring periodic changes in a star's luminosity. The first class of exoplanets found by this technique are the so-called "hot Jupiters," which are so close to their stars they complete an orbit within days, or even hours.
Credits
NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI)More Images From This Period
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Source
Image and source material are credited to the official mission archive linked below.
View on NASA.gov