<p>Astronomers have found a new exoplanet about three times more massive than Jupiter, orbiting a star 21,000 light years away from Earth.</p>.<p>The massive exoplanet, designated MOA-2016-BLG-227Lb, was discovered by researchers led by Naoki Koshimoto of the Osaka University in Japan using the gravitational microlensing technique.</p>.<p><br />Gravitational microlensing is a method of detecting new extrasolar planets circling their parent stars relatively closely.</p>.<p><br />The microlensing event was detected in May last year, using the 1.8 m MOA-II telescope at the University of Canterbury Mt. John Observatory in New Zealand.<br />Subsequent observations allowed detection of the new planet and to determine its basic parameters.</p>.<p><br />The team found that MOA-2016-BLG-227Lb is a super-Jupiter planet with the mass of about 2.8 Jupiter masses. The parent star is located in the galactic bulge. Its mass is estimated to be around 0.29 solar masses.</p>.<p><br />MOA-2016-BLG-227Lb orbits its host at a distance of about 1.67 astronomical unit (AU), 'Phys.org' reported.</p>.<p>Radius of both the objects and orbital period of the planet are yet to be determined, researchers said.</p>.<p><br />"Our analysis excludes the possibility that the host star is a G-dwarf, leading us to a robust conclusion that the planet MOA-2016-BLG-227Lb is a super-Jupiter mass planet orbiting an M or K-dwarf star likely located in the Galactic bulge," the researchers said.</p>.<p><br />The finding was published in the journal arXiv.org </p>
<p>Astronomers have found a new exoplanet about three times more massive than Jupiter, orbiting a star 21,000 light years away from Earth.</p>.<p>The massive exoplanet, designated MOA-2016-BLG-227Lb, was discovered by researchers led by Naoki Koshimoto of the Osaka University in Japan using the gravitational microlensing technique.</p>.<p><br />Gravitational microlensing is a method of detecting new extrasolar planets circling their parent stars relatively closely.</p>.<p><br />The microlensing event was detected in May last year, using the 1.8 m MOA-II telescope at the University of Canterbury Mt. John Observatory in New Zealand.<br />Subsequent observations allowed detection of the new planet and to determine its basic parameters.</p>.<p><br />The team found that MOA-2016-BLG-227Lb is a super-Jupiter planet with the mass of about 2.8 Jupiter masses. The parent star is located in the galactic bulge. Its mass is estimated to be around 0.29 solar masses.</p>.<p><br />MOA-2016-BLG-227Lb orbits its host at a distance of about 1.67 astronomical unit (AU), 'Phys.org' reported.</p>.<p>Radius of both the objects and orbital period of the planet are yet to be determined, researchers said.</p>.<p><br />"Our analysis excludes the possibility that the host star is a G-dwarf, leading us to a robust conclusion that the planet MOA-2016-BLG-227Lb is a super-Jupiter mass planet orbiting an M or K-dwarf star likely located in the Galactic bulge," the researchers said.</p>.<p><br />The finding was published in the journal arXiv.org </p>