New cold gas giant planet discovered orbiting Beta Pictoris

Source: AP

Astronomers have discovered a faint, elusive planet orbiting a young star after more than a decade of cosmic hide-and-seek. In an unusual twist, two groups working independently detected the cold gas giant a few days apart late last year using different telescopes. It is the dimmest planet ever directly imaged from Earth, scientists said.

Key Details

• Star system: Beta Pictoris, located in the easel-shaped southern constellation Pictor, 63 light-years from Earth.
• New planet: Slightly larger than Jupiter; takes 91 years to orbit its star (a little longer than Uranus takes to orbit the Sun).
• Age of system: Barely 20 million years old. The planet is probably similar to a much younger Jupiter, according to Aidan Gibbs of the University of California San Diego, who led the second team.

Discovery Timeline

• A Scottish and German-led team first spotted the planet using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile. They then dug through archives to confirm its orbit. The planet had remained hidden in the data all this time, overshadowed by its considerably brighter star and two companion planets.
• A California-led team made the discovery with NASA’s Webb Space Telescope. Two observations were all it took with Webb, the largest and most powerful telescope ever launched into space.

Research Publication

Both teams reported their findings in the Astrophysical Journal Letters on July 15.

Each team was studying one of the star’s already identified planets when they spotted a less massive one—100 times fainter—lurking farther out. They deliberately kept their work from one another so as not to bias the results.