HR8799 to find three of the new planets . Scientists estimate that HR8799 , roughly 1.5 times the size of the sun , is 130 light years from Earth in the constellation of Pegasus . The individual planets in this planetary family are estimated to be seven to 10 times the mass of Jupiter . Astronomers say the star is too faint to detect with the human eye , but observers could probably see it through binoculars or small telescopes . `` This discovery is the first time we have directly imaged a family of planets around a normal star outside of our solar system , '' said Christian Marois , the lead astronomer in the Lawrence Livermore lab study . About the same time , NASA astronomers using the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope surprised the space community by locating a fourth planet . NASA 's newly discovered planet , Fomalhaut b , is estimated to be roughly three times Jupiter 's mass and 10.7 billion miles from its host star , Fomalhaut . NASA 's images show Fomalhaut b orbiting the bright southern star Fomalhaut , which is said to be 16 times brighter than our sun and 25
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The first-ever pictures of planets outside the solar system have been released in two studies . The box shows a planet orbiting the star Fomalhaut . The dot shows the star 's location . Using the latest techniques in space technology , astronomers at NASA and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory used direct-imaging techniques to capture pictures of four newly discovered planets orbiting stars outside our solar system . `` After all these years , it 's amazing to have a picture showing not one but three planets , '' said physicist Bruce Macintosh of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore , California . `` The discovery of the HR8799 system is a crucial step on the road to the ultimate detection of another Earth , '' he said . None of the planets is remotely habitable , scientists said . Both sets of research findings were published Thursday in Science Express , a journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science . A team of American , British and Canadian astronomers and physicists , using the Gemini North and Keck telescopes on the Mauna Kea mountaintop in Hawaii , observed host star