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NASA telescope spots super Jupiter that takes more than a century to go around its star

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  • NASA telescope spots super Jupiter that takes more than a century to go around its star
  • July 24, 2024
  • Article Body Text CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — <p>A super Jupiter has been spotted around a neighboring star by the Webb Space Telescope — and it has a super orbit. </p> <p>The planet is roughly the same diameter as Jupiter, but with six times the mass. Its atmosphere is also rich in hydrogen like Jupiter’s. </p> <p>One big difference: It takes this planet more than a century, possibly as long as 250 years, to go around its star. It’s 15 times the distance from its star than Earth is to the sun. </p> <p>Scientists had long suspected a big planet circled this star 12 light-years away, but not this massive or far from its star. A light-year is 5.8 trillion miles. These new observations show the planet orbits the star Epsilon Indi A, part of a three-star system. </p> <p>An international team led by Max Planck Institute for Astronomy’s Elisabeth Matthews in Germany collected the images last year and published the findings Wednesday in the journal <em>Nature</em>. </p> <p>Astronomers directly observed the incredibly old and cold gas giant — a rare and tricky feat — by masking the star through use of a special shading device on Webb. By blocking the starlight, the planet stood out as a pinpoint of infrared light. </p> <p>The planet and star clock in at 3.5 billion years old, 1 billion years younger than our own solar system, but still considered old and brighter than expected, according to Matthews. </p> <p>The star is so close and bright to our own solar system that it’s visible with the naked eye in the Southern Hemisphere. </p> <p>Don’t bet on life, though. </p> <p>“This is a gas giant with no hard surface or liquid water oceans,&quot; Matthews said in an email. </p> <p>It’s unlikely this solar system sports more gas giants, she said, but small rocky worlds could be lurking there. </p> <p>Worlds similar to Jupiter can help scientists understand “how these planets evolve over giga-year timescales,&quot; she said. </p> <p>The first planets outside our solar system — dubbed exoplanets — were confirmed in the early 1990s. NASA’s tally now stands at 5,690 as of mid-July. The vast majority were detected via the transit method, in which a fleeting dip in starlight, repeated at regular intervals, indicates an orbiting planet. </p> <p>Telescopes in space and also on the ground are on the hunt for even more, especially planets that might be similar to Earth. </p> <p>Launched in 2021, NASA and the European Space Agency’s Webb telescope is the biggest and most powerful astronomical observatory ever placed in space. </p>
  • Content Type Text
  • Language English
  • NewsML Media Topics Arts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
  • Subtitles / Dubbing Available No
  • Network VOA
  • Embargo Date July 24, 2024 16:19 EDT
  • Byline Associated Press
  • Brand / Language Service Voice of America - English
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