Zooming in on HD 85521 b

In this zoom sequence we start with a wide-field view of the southern Milky Way. We gradually close in on the apparently unremarkable star HD 85512 in the constellation of Vela (The Sail). Observations with the HARPS spectrograph, attached to ESO’s 3.6-metre telescope at La Silla, Chile, have revealed that this star is orbited by a planet about 3.6 times as massive as the Earth and which lies at the edge of the habitable zone around the star, where liquid water, and perhaps even life, may exist.

Credit:

ESO/Nick Risinger (skysurvey.org)/A. Fujii/Digitized Sky Survey 2. Music: John Dyson (from the album Moonwind)

About the Video

Id:eso1134d
Release date:12 September 2011, 18:00
Related releases:eso1134
Duration:56 s
Frame rate:30 fps

About the Object

Type:Milky Way : Star : Circumstellar Material : Planetary System
Category:Exoplanets

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