NASA's James Webb Telescope Discovers New Exoplanet Beta Pictoris d
#GS-3 #Science & Technology #Space #Exoplanets #James Webb Space Telescope
Why in News
- Using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), scientists discovered a hidden giant planet named Beta Pictoris d inside the Beta Pictoris system, which sits 63 light-years from Earth in the Milky Way galaxy.
About Beta Pictoris System
- Beta Pictoris is a very young star system of around 23 million years old, which helps scientists understand how planets form near dust disks.
- Before this finding, researchers already knew about two large planets in this system, called Beta Pictoris b and Beta Pictoris c.
- Adding Beta Pictoris d makes this only the second known planetary system that has at least three directly imaged planets.
About Beta Pictoris d
- This planet is a gas giant exoplanet with a mass at least twice the mass of Jupiter, making it the smallest giant planet in its system.
- It orbits its parent star at a distance of 30 astronomical units (AU), which is similar to Neptune's distance from the Sun and gives it the widest orbit.
- The planet stayed hidden for years because it was buried inside a bright disk of space dust that blocked normal telescopes.
Discovery Method
- Astronomers found the planet by chance using the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) instrument on the JWST while studying Beta Pictoris b, as light patterns revealed its movement and chemical signals.
- Scientists confirmed it as a planet through carbon monoxide absorption lines, and later used the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) to detect water vapor and methane in its atmosphere.
Significance
- This marks the first directly imaged exoplanet discovered primarily through moderate-resolution spectroscopy, opening a fresh way to find hidden worlds through atmospheric chemical fingerprints.