<p>Astronomers have discovered a new “super-Jupiter” planet, 13 times bigger than Jupiter, the largest planet in our own solar system.<br /><br />The planet orbits a star called Kappa Andromedae that is 2.5 times the mass of the sun and is located 170 light-years away from Earth.<br /><br />As the giant planet is larger than Jupiter, it has classified as a “super-Jupiter”.<br />Astrophysicists at the University of Toronto say the object, which could represent the first new observed exoplanet system in almost four years, has a mass at least 13 times that of Jupiter and an orbit somewhat larger than Neptune’s.<br /><br />The host star around which the planet orbits has a mass 2.5 times that of the sun, making it the highest mass star to ever host a directly observed planet.<br /><br />“Our team identified a faint object located very close to Kappa Andromedae in January that looks much like other young, massive directly imaged planets but does not look like a star,” said researcher Thayne Currie.<br /><br />“Kappa Andromedae moves fast across the sky so it will appear to change position relative to more distant, background objects,” Currie says.</p>.<p>Labelled by the researchers Kappa And b, it could be the first direct rendering of an exoplanet in two years and of a new exoplanet system in almost four years, ending a significant drought in the field.<br /><br />In a single infrared snapshot, the tiny point of light that is Kappa And b is completely lost amid the overwhelming glare of the host star.<br /><br />The extraordinary differences in brightness between a star and a planet are a primary reason why only a handful of planets have ever been directly imaged around stars.<br />“Although astronomers have found over 750 planets around other stars, we actually directly detect light from the atmosphere of only a few of them,” said Currie.<br /><br />“There are approximately six now. Kappa And b is one of them if our estimates for its age and mass are correct, which we think they are. The rest are only inferred directly.”<br /><br />The large mass of both the host star and gas giant provide a sharp contrast with our own solar system.<br /><br />Observers and theorists have argued recently that large stars like Kappa Andromedae are likely to have large planets, perhaps following a simple scaled-up model of our own solar system.<br /><br />The study was published in the Astrophysical Journal. Letters.</p>
<p>Astronomers have discovered a new “super-Jupiter” planet, 13 times bigger than Jupiter, the largest planet in our own solar system.<br /><br />The planet orbits a star called Kappa Andromedae that is 2.5 times the mass of the sun and is located 170 light-years away from Earth.<br /><br />As the giant planet is larger than Jupiter, it has classified as a “super-Jupiter”.<br />Astrophysicists at the University of Toronto say the object, which could represent the first new observed exoplanet system in almost four years, has a mass at least 13 times that of Jupiter and an orbit somewhat larger than Neptune’s.<br /><br />The host star around which the planet orbits has a mass 2.5 times that of the sun, making it the highest mass star to ever host a directly observed planet.<br /><br />“Our team identified a faint object located very close to Kappa Andromedae in January that looks much like other young, massive directly imaged planets but does not look like a star,” said researcher Thayne Currie.<br /><br />“Kappa Andromedae moves fast across the sky so it will appear to change position relative to more distant, background objects,” Currie says.</p>.<p>Labelled by the researchers Kappa And b, it could be the first direct rendering of an exoplanet in two years and of a new exoplanet system in almost four years, ending a significant drought in the field.<br /><br />In a single infrared snapshot, the tiny point of light that is Kappa And b is completely lost amid the overwhelming glare of the host star.<br /><br />The extraordinary differences in brightness between a star and a planet are a primary reason why only a handful of planets have ever been directly imaged around stars.<br />“Although astronomers have found over 750 planets around other stars, we actually directly detect light from the atmosphere of only a few of them,” said Currie.<br /><br />“There are approximately six now. Kappa And b is one of them if our estimates for its age and mass are correct, which we think they are. The rest are only inferred directly.”<br /><br />The large mass of both the host star and gas giant provide a sharp contrast with our own solar system.<br /><br />Observers and theorists have argued recently that large stars like Kappa Andromedae are likely to have large planets, perhaps following a simple scaled-up model of our own solar system.<br /><br />The study was published in the Astrophysical Journal. Letters.</p>