ESA scientist discovers a way to shortlist stars that might have planets


Traces of the disc surrounding our Solar System
 
Traces of the disc surrounding our Solar System. The blue band curving across this image is created by the dust disc surrounding our Solar System. Viewed from afar this would show up as a bright ring surrounding the Sun.

The bright band running across the centre of the image is from dust in our Galaxy.

This image, taken by the COBE satellite, is a composite of three far-infrared wavelengths (60, 100, and 240 microns).

(Photo: Michael Hauser (Space Telescope Science Institute), the COBE/DIRBE Science Team, and NASA)

Disc surrounding the Sun
 
Viewed from afar our Solar System would have a bright dust disc surrounding the Sun similar to the disc surrounding this star. This image, taken with Hubble's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS), shows a dust ring around a star called HR 4796A. The image was taken on March 15, 1998.

(Photo: Brad Smith (University of Hawaii), Glenn Schneider (University of Arizona), and NASA)

Ulysses in flight configuration
 
Ulysses in flight configuration passing by Jupiter.



Release date: 11 September 2003