Light glimpsed from extra-solar planet Dec 16, 1999 Since the
detection of the first 'extrasolar' planet four years ago,
almost 30 planets have been discovered outside the solar system.
Nearly all of them were detected as a result of the planet
causing the star around which it orbits to "wobble". Now, Andrew
Cameron from the University of St Andrews and colleagues claim
to have seen light reflected by the planet orbiting around the
star tau Bootis (Nature 402 751). The planet - first discovered
in 1997 - is eight times the mass and 1.8 times the size of
Jupiter, and blue-green in colour. Tau Bootis is 50 light years
from Earth. Light from the planet is almost completely
obliterated by the bright glare from the star. Although the
reflected signal is 10-20,000 times weaker than the glare from
tau Bootis, the planet studied by Cameron and co-workers is
still the brightest and hottest planet among the extra-solar
planets discovered so far. It also has one of the shortest
orbital periods - just over three days - o