Astronomers have discovered a faint, elusive planet orbiting a young star after more than a decade of cosmic hide-and-seek. The planet, which is slightly bigger than Jupiter, takes 91 years to orbit its star, a little longer than it takes Uranus to orbit our sun.
Discovery Details
The discovery was made by two independent teams using different telescopes. A Scottish and German-led team used the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile, while a California-led team used NASA’s Webb Space Telescope.
The planet is located in the southern constellation Pictor, or painter, and is about 63 light-years from Earth. It is the dimmest planet ever directly imaged from Earth, and its discovery provides a unique glimpse into the formation of planetary systems.
Original reporting: KTSA News/Talk (San Antonio) — read the source article.
