51 Pegasi
Copyright
1999 S.Monnier
A (fanciful) view of the 51
Pegasi
system.
51 Pegasi is the first planet
found
near a star outside the solar system. It was discovered in november
1995
by two Swiss astronomer, Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz.
It's a strange planet, because
it's very close to its star (0.05 AU). Its orbital period is 4.2 days.
Trivia: There should be about 100000 earth-like exoplanets in our galaxy. That's the same order of magnitude as the number of 7-card poker hands (133784560).
If you're interested in new planets, visit this site :