Gemini Planet Imager Releases Images of Distant Planets

Researchers have released the first-ever images of distant planets captured by the Gemini Planet Imager. The instrument has opened up a new chapter in space exploration, enabling scientists to study exoplanets directly.

Thousands of exoplanets have been discovered, but astronomers aren't sure about composition of these "alien planets". Now, GPI is looking at the sky, collecting images and analyzing the make-up of the worlds beyond our solar system.

The instrument detects gas planets, much like our own Jupiter, using infrared radiation.

The glare around a bright star usually masks the planets around it, making it difficult for astronomers to observe them. GPI is built to block out this blinding light.

The instrument is deployed on the 26-foot Gemini South telescope in Chile, which is one of the world's biggest telescopes, according to a statement released by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. Scientists at JPL have contributed to the design and construction of an ultra-precise infrared sensor. The sensor is used to calculate variation in light from huge stars that might hide the planets around them.

GPI removes the blurring effects of the atmosphere using complex optics systems, Space.com reported. It also has a coronagraph to remove the obtrusive light from the nearby star and directly image the planet.

The instrument captured its "first light" November 2013. However, scientists didn't reveal the images taken by the instrument until The American Astronomical Society's meeting in Washington, which was held Tuesday, according to nbcnews.com

GPI has taken an image of a planet that orbits around the star Beta Pictoris. The image was taken in roughly 60 seconds.

"Even these early first-light images are almost a factor of 10 better than the previous generation of instruments. In one minute, we are seeing planets that used to take us an hour to detect," said Bruce Macintosh of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory who led the team that built the instrument.

 "Most planets that we know about to date are only known because of indirect methods that tell us a planet is there, a bit about its orbit and mass, but not much else," said Macintosh in a news release. "With GPI we directly image planets around stars - it's a bit like being able to dissect the system and really dive into the planet's atmospheric makeup and characteristics."

Also, GPI can be used to study the composition of cosmic bodies present within our solar system.