And Now: Fomalhaut B

Science | Sat, Nov 15, 2008 at 6:28:04 pm PST

This week astronomers announced the first pictures of planets circling other stars, but if you saw the photos released by the wire services you might have wondered, “Where?”

Here’s a good illustration from APOD, showing the planet and its position within the giant ring of dust that surrounds Fomalhaut. They’ve given this planet the sexy name of “Fomalhaut B.” (I don’t know if they’re insisting on the lower case ‘b’.)

Photo by NASA, ESA, and Z. Levay (STScI)