Qatar achievements in astronomy win praise

Qatar's discovery of three new exoplanets orbiting around other stars by scientists at the Qatar Exoplanet Survey is the first real bond for the Islamic countries with their history and their heritage in the field of astronomy after more than seven centuries, renowned American science writer Shannon Stirone has said.

In her article, titled "How Islamic Scholarship Birthed Modern Astronomy", Stirone highlighted the distinguished role of Islamic scholars in the development of astronomy. She mentioned famous achievements for distinguished Muslim astronomers like Ibn Yunus, Abdulrahman al-Sufi, Ibn al-Haytham, and Mariam al-Astrulabi.

Speaking about the Islamic role in astronomy in the modern age, the writer highlighted the role of Qatar in reviving the Islamic heritage in this field.

The newly discovered planets were identified by the Qatar Exoplanet Survey (QES), operated by the Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI), which is part of Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) of Qatar Foundation.

The planet-searching survey, led by QEERI's acting executive director Dr Khalid al-Subai, discovered the gas giant exoworlds belong to the so-called "hot Jupiter" family of planets and were designated Qatar-3b, Qatar-4b and Qatar-5b.

Qatar's planet-searching programme ranks fifth globally in terms of the number of planets discovered which are five planets so far.