In Focus: How Do Artists Portray Exoplanets They’ve Never Seen?How
Posted by sciencewatch on 28 Nov 2007 12:22 am. Filed under General Science News.
In Focus: How Do Artists Portray Exoplanets They’ve Never Seen?
How realistic are images of planets around other stars—and should they be? CLICK HERE FOR AN IMAGE GALLERY
Stargazers have yet to lay eyes on any of the nearly 240 planets detected outside our solar system. These so-called exoplanets are too faint for current telescopes to distinguish from the stars they orbit*; instead astronomers rely on indirect methods to infer their existence. Yet popular news accounts, supplied by space agency press services, overflow with bold, almost photo-realistic images of distant worlds.