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Watch distant worlds dance around their sun

Stunning new time lapse video shows 12 years of exoplanets orbiting their star

  • New 4.5-second time lapse video shows four gas giants orbit star HR8799
  • Bigger than Jupiter, the planets are located 133.3 light-years away in the constellation Pegasus
  • To create the video, astronomers used 12 years of imaging data and corrective technology to remove Earth’s atmosphere and stellar glare

EVANSTON, Ill. — In 2008, HR8799 was the first extrasolar planetary system ever directly imaged. Now, the famed system stars in its very own video.

Using observations collected over the past 12 years, Northwestern University astrophysicist Jason Wang has assembled a stunning time lapse video of the family of four planets — each more massive than Jupiter — orbiting their star. The video gives viewers an unprecedented glimpse into planetary motion. 

“It’s usually difficult to see planets in orbit,” Wang said. “For example, it isn’t apparent that Jupiter or Mars orbit our sun because we live in the same system and don’t have a top-down view. Astronomical events either happen too quickly or too slowly to capture in a movie. But this video shows planets moving on a human time scale. I hope it enables people to enjoy something wondrous.”

An expert in exoplanet imaging, Wang is an assistant professor of physics and astronomy in Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and a member of the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA).

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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/x9EG3gbQ5P0" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Time lapse gif

Please credit all videos and images to Jason Wang/Northwestern University

Four faint exoplanets orbit star HR8799, which is represented by a star-shaped icon in the center. (The star itself was removed from the video because its glare is so intense that it blocks out the surrounding planets.)
Four faint exoplanets orbit star HR8799, which is represented by a star-shaped icon in the center. (The star itself was removed from the video because its glare is so intense that it blocks out the surrounding planets.)

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