Visible Light Spectrum from Alien Planet Measured for 1st Time

Astronomers have detected an exoplanet’s visible-light spectrum directly for the first time ever, a milestone that could help bring many other alien worlds into clearer focus down the road.

The scientists used the HARPS instrument on the European Southern Observatory’s 3.6-meter telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile to study the spectrum of visible light reflected off the exoplanet 51 Pegasi b, which lies about 50 light-years from Earth in the constellation Pegasus. You can see a new video of 51 Pegasi b and its environs here on Space.com.

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From link “We are now eagerly awaiting first light of the ESPRESSO spectrograph on the VLT so that we can do more detailed studies of this and other planetary systems”

Me too. Think about it, this planet 51 Pegasi b is not even remotely like anything we have in our solar system. It’s surface could be just about anything. I also eagerly await direct measurements of the surface gravity from this planet, if such are possible from the spectra of reflected light. Because when an object is big enough to be about the diameter of Jupiter it could have a mass anywhere between the mass of Saturn and 50 times that mass, radius is almost independent of mass but depends strongly on atmospheric composition.