NASA has just reported that the Hubble Space Telescope has detected a new planet orbiting the star Fomalhaut, about 25 light years away from our solar system.
The new planet dubbed Fomalhaut b has a mass about three times greater than that of Jupiter but differently from the two hundred or so exoplanets that have been detected by indirect means – wobbling of the stars around which they orbit because of gravitational interactions – Fomalhaut b has actually been seen thorough the telescope. This is the first time that a planet outside our own solar system has been seen directly by optical means.

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