Tag: HARPS-N
-
How to Discover a Planet: From 51 Pegasi b to Exoplanets
Introduction: The moment that changed our view of the cosmos On October 6, 1995, at a scientific meeting in Florence, Italy, two Swiss astronomers announced a finding that would forever alter our understanding of the universe: a planet orbiting a star other than the Sun. Michel Mayor and his Ph.D. student Didier Queloz, working at…
-
How to Discover a Planet Beyond Our Solar System: From 51 Pegasi b to Modern Exoplanet Hunting
Introduction: The Groundbreaking Start of Exoplanet Discovery On October 6, 1995, a watershed moment in astronomy occurred at a scientific meeting in Florence, Italy. Michel Mayor and his Ph.D. student Didier Queloz announced the first planet orbiting a sun-like star outside our solar system: 51 Pegasi b. This discovery proved that planetary systems beyond our…
-
From 51 Pegasi b to Earth-like Worlds: How We Discover Planets Beyond Our Solar System
How the first exoplanet was found On October 6, 1995, a pivotal discovery reshaped our view of the cosmos. Swiss astronomers Michel Mayor and his Ph.D. student Didier Queloz announced the detection of a planet orbiting a star beyond our Sun. The star was 51 Pegasi, about 50 light years away in the Pegasus constellation,…
-
The Epic Hunt for an Earth Twin: How Exoplanet Hunters Paved the Way to an Earthlike World
The first spark: how a ‘hot Jupiter’ changed everything On 6 October 1995, a momentous discovery reshaped our view of the cosmos. Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz announced the detection of a planet orbiting a sun-like star outside our Solar System. The star, 51 Pegasi, hosts 51 Pegasi b—a giant gas planet orbiting astonishingly close…
-
Chasing the Earth Twin: The Legacy of the First Exoplanet Discovery
The day the cosmos opened a new chapter On 6 October 1995, the astronomy world shifted forever. Swiss astronomers Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz announced the first planet found orbiting a Sun-like star: 51 Pegasi b, a gas giant that completed an orbit in just over four days. The discovery, made with the Elodie spectrograph…
-
The epic hunt for an Earth twin: how exoplanet explorers chase a planetary doppelgänger
Introduction: a quest sparked by a tiny wobble The search for a planet that mirrors Earth in size, warmth, and potential for life has been a long, winding journey. It began with a radical breakthrough in 1995 when Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz announced the discovery of a planet orbiting a Sun-like star outside our…