It's a tiny pale smudge you have to strain to spot in photographs, but an apparent planet 148 trillion miles away generated outsized excitement among astronomy buffs Thursday.
Take Paul Seifert, Concordia College professor and president of the Fargo-Moorhead Astronomy Club. Granted, he said, his colleagues have tracked down more than 300 planets outside our solar system in the past 13 years. And, he concedes, the image of this latest discovery, named Fomalhaut b, is not exactly viewer-friendly.
But the picture is one several scientists said marks the first time they've captured planets outside our solar system in photographs rather than surmise their existence indirectly. They say the development is poised to improve understanding of how planets came to be - and the search for life in the universe.
"This is really cool," Seifert said of the planet, "just a big frozen chunk of ice" that quickly captured his imagination. "The science-fiction geek in me is going, 'Oh, now we can start looking for aliens,' though we're not there yet."
Two groups of scientists - including a team that snapped images of the 200 million-year-old Fomalhaut b using the Hubble Space Telescope - independently came up with photos from two galaxies. The news quickly reached area astronomers.
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"This is a visual breakthrough in the sense that previous planets were discovered through indirect means," said Paul Hardesen, of the department of space studies at the University of North Dakota. "We've never had pictures."
Until now, scientists have zeroed in on what they dub exoplanets by measuring light and gravity changes around stars. But they've been foiled in their quest for visual evidence because planets lurk in the glare of their stars.
Both locally and nationally, the news met with some skepticism.
"It's just a tiny speck of light," said an underwhelmed Charles Sawicki, who teaches astronomy at North Dakota State University. "You have to squint to see it."
Sawicki brought up previous claims to snapping exoplanet images - the subject of a photo competition of sorts among astronomers - that were never substantiated. He wondered if the mysterious smudge might in fact be a brown dwarf - a dim, low-mass type of star - masquerading as a planet.
David Weinrich, coordinator of the Minnesota State University Moorhead Planetarium, admits the photos call for more research (not to mention a powerful magnifying glass). But he was excited about the possibilities. The light captured in the photos could help scientists finally illuminate the makeup and masses of far-flung planets.
Besides, the technology could help astronomers discover new planets, including some that resemble earth more closely or could sustain life.
"My personal opinion is there's a lot more out there than just us," said Kristin Eberhardt, a student at North Dakota State College of Science in Wahpeton and the state's International Year of Astronomy Ambassador. "On some of these planets, there might be other living organisms."
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Eberhart was getting ready to e-mail the photos to her friends, who haven't quite contracted her fascination with outer space since the seventh grade: "They'll probably laugh and stare at it and call me to ask what's going on." She couldn't wait to field those calls.
