This article neatly illustrates something I find interesting: the biases of the various methods of detecting exoplanets.<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methods_of_detecting_exoplanets" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methods_of_detecting_exoplanet...</a><p>Direct imaging more easily detects massive planets that orbit <i>far</i> away from their star. Every one of the planets that orbit HR8799 (that we've detected) are farther out than Saturn, and many times heavier than Jupiter.<p>On the other hand, the transit and and radial velocity methods work better for planets that are <i>closer</i> to their star, and with radial planes that are edge on to us. On the third hand, with the astromery method, it helps for the orbital plane to be <i>face</i> on to us, so we can detect the wobble in the host star!<p>For all these methods, it helps if the star is both small and dim. The only way we'll find out if Rigel A (~120,000x brighter than Sol) hosts a planet is if we send a probe there.
If it matters to you, you are not actually seeing the planets in motion:<p>> Wang said that the animation is based on eight observations of the planets since 2009. He then used a motion interpolation algorithm to draw the orbit between those points.<p>I wish NASA was more upfront with the enhancements it adds to media, including often adding color and, in this case at least, adding motion.
Is it correct to say this kind of direct imaging only works if the planets are large and hot enough to have a significant infrared output of their own, rather than light reflected from their star?
> HR 8799 is 129 light years away<p>i know pretty much nothing about astronomy, which is probably why i find it amazing that this planet-level imagery was collected by an earth-based telescope. fantastic work.<p>i can't help but wonder: will we see more imagery/animations of other exoplanets in the near future or is this just a rarity?
Yep, the Warden Diamond has been verified (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Lords_of_the_Diamond" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Lords_of_the_Diamond</a>)! Very imaginative and gripping series that I totally recommend.