Summary
Exoplanets, or extrasolar planets, are planets outside our solar system, orbiting other distant stars. For a long time it was not known if other stars had planet systems like our own Sun, or not. In 1995 a large planet was found orbiting the star 51 Pegasi. Soon more exoplanets were discovered and as of June 2010 there have been almost 500 confirmed discoveries.
For many people the discovery of extrasolar planets has intensified the hope of finding extraterrestrial life, but most of the planets found so far are not solid Earth-like planets, but gas planets, like Jupiter, and not suitable to hold life as we know it.
Whether or not you believe in the possibility of extraterrestrial life, you might be interested to know what stars, plotted in this atlas, are found to have one or more planets. Table F provides you with this information. There are a total of 72 stars listed and the first six columns show the right ascension (RA) and declination (Dec) of the star, its name, its magnitude (Mag), the constellation (Con), and finally the maps where the star can be found. Note that not all star names are on the maps; the names in italics refer to stars that are plotted on the maps, but without labels. You can still locate them by using the RA and Dec information!
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- Information
- The Cambridge Star Atlas , pp. 88 - 89Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011