HEIDELBERG, Germany, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- Astronomers using an
infrared telescope in Hawaii say they've captured a rare image
of a "Super-Jupiter" around a massive distant star. Of the
nearly 850 exoplanets discovered orbiting stars other than the
sun, only a few have been captured in actual astronomical
images. Most are detected by indirect means, since stars are
much brighter than their planets and with traditional
observational techniques the planet will be hidden in the glare
of its host star. Obtaining an image of the planet orbiting the
star Kappa Andromeda required advanced techniques both for
observation and for image analysis to mask the light of the star
to reveal the presence of its orbiting companion, astronomers
said. The new Super-Jupiter is orbiting a fairly young star and
at a distance comparable to planetary orbits within our own
solar system, the research team led by Joseph Carson of the Max
Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany, said.
This suggests the planet formed in a manner