January 31, 1996
The constellations may be old, but the person celebrating beneath them is gloriously new by cosmic standards.
Planets Around Sun-Like Stars
Birthday · January 31, 1996
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
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APOD published January 31, 1996. Full image credits are on the original APOD entry below. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Do many Sun-like stars have planets? Speculation on this point has been ongoing since humanity's realization that other stars existed. Only in the past year, however, have answers and discoveries been realized. The above plot summarizes the four known cases of normal stars having planets. These cases are: our Solar System, 51 Pegasi, 70 Virgini, and 47 Ursae Majoris. The later two cases were discovered by astronomers led by Geoff Marcy and Paul Butler as part of a greater project inspecting 120 stars for orbiting planets. Interestingly enough, the planets around the later two stars have temperatures in the right range to allow liquid water - and hence may have conditions ripe for the development of life.