Astronomers have discovered a planet 12 times more massive than Jupiter, along with a brown dwarf, orbiting stars smaller than the sun. The European Space Agency’s Gaia spacecraft made the discovery, which has been confirmed by other instruments. The exoplanet, dubbed Gaia-4b, is estimated to be 244 light-years away from Earth.
Gaia-4b is considered a super-Jupiter planet, orbiting its star over 570 Earth-days. Its host star is estimated to be 64% the mass of the sun, making it one of the most massive planets known to circle a small star. The brown dwarf, Gaia-5b, orbits an even smaller star and is about 21 times more massive than Jupiter.
The discovery was made using the “wobble” technique, also known as astrometry, which involves tracking the motion of stars to detect gravitational tugs from orbiting planets. This method has been used successfully by the Gaia spacecraft since its launch in 2013 and is expected to lead to thousands of new discoveries.
The European Space Agency’s research fellow, Matthew Standing, stated that this discovery is just a “tip-of-the-iceberg” for exoplanet discoveries from Gaia. The number of confirmed exoplanets has reached over 5,800, with thousands more under review. With the vastness of space, scientists believe there may be many trillions of stars and planets waiting to be discovered.
The discovery was published in The Astrophysical Journal and provides further evidence for the potential of the Gaia spacecraft to revolutionize exoplanet hunting.
Source: https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/spacecraft-finds-positively-enormous-planet-110000261.html