On December 13th in science history, one of the most significant events was the discovery of the first extrasolar planet, also known as an exoplanet, orbiting a main-sequence star. This groundbreaking discovery was made in 1995 by Swiss astronomers Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz, who detected the planet orbiting the star 51 Pegasi using the Doppler spectroscopy technique.The planet, named 51 Pegasi b, is a gas giant about half the mass of Jupiter and orbits its star at a distance of only 7.5 million kilometers (4.7 million miles), which is much closer than Mercury is to our Sun. This proximity to its star results in an estimated surface temperature of around 1,000°C (1,832°F), making it an extremely hot Jupiter-type planet.The discovery of 51 Pegasi b challenged the prevailing theories of planet formation at the time, as it was thought that gas giants could only form at much greater distances from their host stars, similar to the gas giants in our solar system. This finding led to a paradigm shift in the understanding of planetary systems and sparked a renewed interest in the search for exoplanets. It also led to the realization that planetary systems come in various configurations, some of which are vastly different from our own solar system.Mayor and Queloz's discovery earned them a share of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics, which they received "for the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star." Their work paved the way for the detection of thousands of exoplanets in the following years, revolutionizing our understanding of the universe and the potential for life beyond Earth.Today, the study of exoplanets is a thriving field in astronomy, with new discoveries being made regularly thanks to advanced telescopes and detection methods. The discovery of 51 Pegasi b on December 13th, 1995, will always be remembered as a crucial turning point in the history of science, marking the beginning of a new era in the exploration of the cosmos and the search for potentially habitable worlds beyond our own.Some great Deals https://amzn.to/49SJ3QsFor more check out http://www.quietplease.aiThis content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI

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