Page "Extrasolar planet" Paragraph 12

The first published discovery to receive subsequent confirmation was made in 1988 by the Canadian astronomers Bruce Campbell, G. A. H. Walker, and Stephenson Yang.

Although they were cautious about claiming a planetary detection, their radial-velocity observations suggested that a planet orbits the star Gamma Cephei.

Partly because the observations were at the very limits of instrumental capabilities at the time, astronomers remained skeptical for several years about this and other similar observations.

It was thought some of the apparent planets might instead have been brown dwarfs, objects intermediate in mass between planets and stars.

In 1990 additional observations were published that supported the existence of the planet orbiting Gamma Cephei, but subsequent work in 1992 again raised serious doubts.

Finally, in 2003, improved techniques allowed the planet's existence to be confirmed.