Meet 70 Vir b, one of the early exoplanet explorers discovered back in 1996 thanks to the sharp eyes of astronomers at Lick Observatory using the trusty Hamilton Echelle Spectrograph. Orbiting its star, 70 Virginis, this giant world was found not by direct sight but by the subtle wobble it causes in its sun’s light—a clever trick known as radial velocity. While it doesn’t have a fancy official name like some exoplanets, 70 Vir b has carved out a place in history as one of the first confident detections beyond our solar system. Imagine a heavyweight gas giant swirling close to its star, heating up in a cosmic dance, far away but a shining example of what’s out there in our vast galaxy!
