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| Extrasolar planet obscuring Big Dipper star | 02.07.2009 17:10 |
| This sounds like a difficult event to observe, but I thought I would mention it anyways. The star HD 80606, which is one star in a binary star system located in Ursa Major, has a planet about twice the diameter of Earth orbiting it. The interesting thing is that on February 14, 2009, the planet (named HD 80606b) will be passing right in front of its parent star (from our perspective on Earth), and there's a 15% chance that it will be detectable with small telescopes1. What's more, the orbital period of this extrasolar planet is a 111 days (i.e. its "year" is 111 days long). So if you're able to locate the star (RA: 09h 22m 37.5679s, Dec: +50deg 36' 13.397")2, you should see the star dim and brighten in a matter of hours, as the transit will last about 17 hours. The two stars are both about magnitude +9, so you'll have to use binoculars at least to spot their location. | |
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HD 80606/80607 binary system, by NASA/GALEXThe two images below are centered on the RA/Dec of the binary star system. The red circle in the middle marks the spot. | |
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| I would highly recommend finding this binary system before the night of the 14th, to get some practice in. The system is located along one of the front legs of the "bear". The Big Dipper handle in the above diagram is extending to the upper left, out of the frame. You could start with the dipper part of the constellation, and star hop down towards the "knee" of the leg, which is close to the binary stars. | |
References:1. Yahoo News - Odd planet's extreme global warming: Highs of 22402. Wikipedia - HD 80606 3. NASA Spitzer - Spitzer Watches Wild Weather on a Star-Skimming Planet | |
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