*Description*: [bottom left text] Hubble Space telescope observed and identified the host star to a gravitationally lensed planet first discovered in 2003 by ground-based telescopes. [left box] A foreground red star and planet drifts toward the sky position of a much farther sunlike background star. [middle-boxes] In 2003, the foreground star-planet system slightly amplifies the light of a background star that momentarily aligns with it. This is called a microlensing event. [right box] The light from each star is progressively more offset year after year as the foreground star drifts by. [bottom right box] In 2005, Hubble Space Telescope observations distinguished the light from the two stars. This was possible because the foreground star turns out to be a different color from the background star. By observing the stars though a red and blue filter, astronomers were able to enhance the visibility of the offset. The relative offset is 0.7 milliarcseconds (the angular width of a dime seen 3,000 miles away) from the source star. (This is below Hubble's resolution, but still a measurable effect.) The deduced positions of the two stars in 2005 are shown with red and blue crosshatches. Technical facts about this news release: About the Object Object Name: OGLE-2003-BLG-235L/MOA-2003-BLG-53L Object Description: Planetary Host Star Position (J2000): R.A. 18h 05m 16s.36 Dec. -28° 53' 42".0 Constellation: Sagittarius Distance: 19,000 light-years (5.8 kiloparsecs) About the Data Data Description: This image was created from HST data from proposals 10426 I. Bond (Massey University), D. Bennett (University of Notre Dame), M. Jaroszynski (Warsaw University), B. Paczynski (Princeton University), N. Rattenbury (University of Manchester), A. Udalski (Warsaw University), and P. Yock (University of Auckland). The science team comprises D. Bennett (University of Notre Dame), J. Anderson (Rice University), I. Bond (Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand), A. Udalski (Warsaw University Observatory), and A. Gould (Ohio State University) Instrument: ACS/HRC Exposure Date(s): May 1, 2005 Exposure Time: 2.3 hours Filters: F435W("B"), F555W("V"), F814W("I") About the Image Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and D. Bennett (University of Notre Dame) Release Date: August 8, 2006 Color This image is a composite of many separate exposures made by the ACS instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope using several different filters. Three filters sample broad wavelength ranges, one isolates the light of hydrogen. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic image. In this case, the assigned colors are: F814W ("I") red F555W ("V") green F435W ("B") blue Orientation: Identification of Exoplanet Host Star [ http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/2006/38/images/b/formats/compass_large_web.jpg ] *News Release Number:*: STScI-2006-38e
