NEW YORK: Astronomers have discovered many space secrets all the time. At the University of Rochester, a discovery was just made that has caused astronomers around the world to take notice
It’s called Exoplanet J1407-B and — while the name of this planet may sound odd — its discovery is groundbreaking. UR Physics and Astronomy professor Eric Mamajek led an international team of scientists that found a ring system around a planet outside our solar system that rivals that of the famous ringed planet Saturn.
It’s the first time astronomers have found something like this outside of our solar system. Now they have proof and it was the Rochester-based professor who delivered that proof to the world. So why is it significant?
Professor Mamajek says, “This is probably the first indirect evidence we have of moons forming around planets outside of our solar system. And that has never been seen before.”
You can think of J1407-B as almost a baby Jupiter-like planet with a disk of dust and ice forming moons around it. Moons that exist in dust rings that are bigger than what any of us can imagine. In fact the rings of this planet are so big that if they were put around Saturn we would able to see them at dusk with our eyes. This discovery was possible not just because of what scientists did see but also what they didn’t see.
“One of these baby suns that we were studying we noticed that the brightness of the star was changing like crazy in a two month period in 2007,” says Professor Mamajek. “It was dimming and at its dimmest point, 95 percent of the light was blocked out from the star. It was if you had took a huge brick and passed it in front of a star.”
Beyond this discovery, Doctor Mamajek is working on other projects with astronomers. It may mean more understanding of the heavens above and more recognition for Rochester in the greater scientific world.
