Astronomy student searches for giant rings with pictures from 1890

On: October 15, 2018

Meticulous analysis of hundreds of photographic plates from the star J1407 between 1890 and 2007 show no stellar eclipses. Robin Mentel, a Master’s student at Leiden University, could not detect eclipses of the star J1407 by a planet hypothesized to have giant rings, called J1407b. However, an eclipse may have been missed since the measurement series contains gaps. Mentel’s research has been accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

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