Vega was the first star other than the Sun to be photographed

14 Jun 2021

Vega was the first star other than the Sun to be photographed

Vega was the first star other than the Sun to be photographedVega was the first star other than the Sun to be photographed

Do you know that the star Vega is the fifth brightest heavenly object in the night sky? Moreover, it is the most brightly shining star in the constellation of Lyre.

Vega is also the first star which we captured photos of, after the Sun. To take the photos, they used a 15-inch refractor. For comparison, Vega is bigger than our Sun.

In 1850, Vega became the first star (other than the Sun) to be photographed. It was imaged by William Bond and John Adams Whipple. Then, in 1872. Henry Draper took the first photograph of a star's spectrum.

Vega became popular during the late 1990s when Carl Sagan's novel Contact was made into a Hollywood movie. Jodie Foster starred in the movie. The movie shows that a physicist searching for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).

In early 2013, astronomers discovered a belt circling Vega. They suggested there might be planets among the rocks. The layout suggests that there are 2 areas. However, the first one is the outer region with icy asteroids. The second one is a section nearer to the star, wherever hotter area rocks reside.

Scientists examine bright stars like Vega using NASA's TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) mission. The first mission of TESS was to look for exoplanets. TESS's examination of Vega can help scientists to learn more about the first stages of star evolution.

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