Hubble Observes Planet 13 Billion Years Old (2003)

A zoom into the summer constellation Scorpius to reveal the globular cluster M4. Zoom continues to Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys image of the location of the planet in M4's starry core. The zoom dissolves to an artist's rendition of the Jupiter-sized planet orbiting around a white dwarf and neutron star.

At an estimated age of 13 billion years, the planet is more than twice as old as Earths 4.5 billion years. Its about as old as a planet can be. It formed around a young, sun-like star barely 1 billion years after our universes birth in the Big Bang. The ancient planet has had a remarkable history because it resides in an unlikely, rough neighborhood. It orbits a peculiar pair of burned-out stars in the crowded core of a cluster of more than 100,000 stars. The new Hubble findings close a decade of speculation and debate about the identity of this ancient world. Until Hubbles measurement, astronomers had debated the identity of this object. Was it a planet or a brown dwarf? Hubbles analysis shows that the object is 2.5 times the mass of Jupiter, confirming that it is a planet. Its very existence provides tantalizing evidence that the first planets formed rapidly, within a billion years of the Big Bang, leading astronomers to conclude that planets may be very abundant in our galaxy.

credit: NASA, Lynn Barranger (STScI), and Greg Bacon (STScI)

source: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2003/19/video/a/

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• M4
• NGC 6121
• Scorpius
• neutron star
• exoplanet
• white dwarf

[mcgyvr2009i]

CCCCUUUUTTTT!!!! You messed up! Let's take a look at the footage:

0:45

Try to fix the special effects. Make it look real!

Okay, 3... 2... 1... ACTION!

[djxatlanta]

@mcgyvr2009i - You're barking up the wrong tree, buddy -- in so many ways. But I forgive you. ;-)

[supermecis]

what did i just watched ???

[thatsrightitsmyoutub]

The universe is 13 billion years old...

[kdc43]

@djxatlanta You're welcome.

[djxatlanta]

@kdc43 - yes, thank you for reiterating what it already says in the text description: "an **artist's rendition** of the Jupiter-sized planet orbiting around a white dwarf and neutron star" ... my channel is called "Our Universe Visualized," and visualizations come in all forms. Thanks for playing. ;-)

[kdc43]

@drtony999 It's The Fake Planet.

[drtony999]

What is the planet?