The first planet ever found around a Sun-like star, in 1995.
Also called: the first exoplanet found.
First planet ever confirmed around a Sun-like star (1995); a 'hot Jupiter' with a 4-day year.
Exoplanet: A planet around another star. Every kind of thing there is →
No. No telescope on Earth will show you this one; it is here to be understood, not seen. It is here because it is worth knowing about — and because leaving it out would make the sky look emptier than it is.
On the 100-meter-track scale model of the Milky Way, 51 Pegasi would be about 5 centimeters from the Sun — roughly the size of a lime. Light takes 50 Earth years to get here from 51 Pegasi b, so what you are looking at is 51 Pegasi b as it was 50 Earth years ago. Its year: ~4.2 days.
| Distance from us | 50 light-years |
|---|---|
| Once round its orbit | 4.2 days |
It belongs to 51 Pegasi.
Nobody flew a tape measure out there. Every number on this page was worked out from the ground:
Not this one. But the sky over your head is full of ones you can see, and the Planetarium knows which.