A camera attached to a powerful telescope has taken the first clear images of an exoplanet -- located outside our solar system -- a new research paper says.
Canadian scientists helped develop the Gemini Planet Imager, which was built for the Gemini Telescope located in Cerro Pachon, Chile.
The bright white dot in this image is a photo of the exoplanet Beta Pictoris b.(Photo: Gemini Planet Imager/Handout/QMI Agency)
In a new study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers say when it was turned to maximum sensitivity to find faint planets near bright stars, it "clearly" detected the planet, Beta Pictoris b, "in a single exposure with minimal post-processing."
The camera was developed with help from researchers at the University of Toronto, University of Montreal, and the National Research Council of Canada.
Beta Pictoris b is located approximately 63 light-years away in the constellation Pictor. A study released April 30 said the planet's equator spins at almost 100,000 km/h and a day lasts just eight hours.