Nearby Extrasolar Planet Discovered;
Hubble May be Capable of Imaging It 

August 4, 2000  Astronomers have detected the presence of a planet orbiting a star that is only 10.5 light-years away. The planet appears to be slightly larger than Jupiter and orbits at about the same distance as the asteroids in our asteroid belt. The star, Epsilon Eridani, is similar to our sun, and it is hoped that the Hubble Space Telescope will be able to actually image the planet. But it could at most appear only as a dot of light. The image below is a BBC picture of Epsilon Eridani. BBC Article.

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