The temporal scale of celestial phenomena is grand enough to be considered small beings such as humans. For example, galactic changes are unrecognizable unless millions to billions of years have elapsed. Nothing changes in decades or so.
However, by processing the 12-year observation data into a time-lapse video compressed into a few seconds, it succeeded in identifying the orbits of distant planets outside the solar system. The star named HR8799 is the central star in an extrasolar system that was able to directly photograph the appearance of a planet for the first time. A Northwestern University astrophysics research team created a 5-second animation using more than 10 years of observational data to visualize the motion of four giant planets moving around HR8799. The research team collected 12 years of data from the Hawaii Observatory.
The team says it’s difficult to see planets orbiting each other. Orbits around Jupiter or Mars are difficult to recognize. This is because we belong to the same planetary system and cannot look down from above. It is difficult to express celestial phenomena in motion pictures because the changes are either too fast or too slow. Here, this video is adjusted for the time flow so that even humans can perceive the planetary motion.
HR8799 is a Pegasus star located 130 light years from Earth. It is orbited by four giant planets with 1.5 times the mass of the Sun and 5 times the brightness of Jupiter. The orbital period of the innermost planet is 45 years, while the outermost planet takes close to 5 centuries. For reference, the orbital period of Neptune, the outermost planet in the solar system, is 165 years.
The team made a similar video in 2017. Thanks to this video, I was able to understand at a glance the celestial phenomenon called planetary motion, which could only be shown in simulation CG or text. Related information this placecan be found in
