12 years in time-lapse – Astrophysicist Jason Wang has created a stunning and unique video of a planetary system. It shows recordings from 12 years of planetary movements of the system HR8799 shortened to four and a half seconds. The Northwestern University scientist shows in the time-lapse video how four planets – each more massive than Jupiter – orbit their star. The black circle in the center of the images covers the central star so the planets orbiting the star can be seen. Not only does the video show the planetary movements of the planetary system, which is 133.3 light years from Earth, for the first time, it is the first video of its kind ever. Jason Wang enthusiastically reports: “It is usually difficult to observe planets in their orbit. For example, it is not obvious that Jupiter or Mars orbits our sun because we live in the same system and do not have a view from above.” He hopes it allows people to enjoy something wonderful. Year following year, Wang and his colleagues travel to the WM Keck Observatory atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii. After 12 years of observation, Wang released the video, which shows the entire period in a 4.5-second compressed time-lapse. “Scientifically, there’s no point in looking at the orbiting systems in a time-lapse video, but it helps others understand what we’re studying,” says Wang. HR8799 is a compact star located in the constellation Pegasus. Compared to our Sun, it is 1.5 times more massive and regarding 5 times more luminous. The system arose regarding 30 million years ago following the dinosaurs became extinct.
