51 Pegasi b: The first exoplanet discovered orbiting a Sun-like star.
http://www.slate.com/...06/_51_pegasi_b_the_first_exoplanet_discovered_orbiting_a_sun_like_star.html
Twenty years ago, on this very date, the field of astronomy underwent a magnificent revolution. On Oct. 6, 1995, Swiss astronomers Didier Queloz and Michel Mayor announced they had discovered a Jupiter-like planet orbiting a Sun-like star.
This was the very first time a planet was seen orbiting a “normal” star. Planets had previously been discovered around pulsars—the compact and furiously energetic cores of stars that had exploded. But it’s thought that the planets may have formed after the supernova event that created the pulsar, and besides, pulsars are nothing at all like the Sun.
