James Webb images 3rd giant planet in Beta Pictoris system
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has just spotted Beta Pictoris d, a giant exoplanet hanging out in the Beta Pictoris system, about 63 light-years from Earth.
This system already had two known planets, so with this discovery, it becomes one of only two known planetary systems to contain at least three imaged planets.
NIRSpec discovers massive Beta Pictoris d
Beta Pictoris d is likely at least twice as massive as Jupiter and orbits its star at about the same distance as Neptune does from the sun.
Scientists found it by accident while checking out another planet's atmosphere with Webb's NIRSpec tool.
Lead author of the new study published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, San Diego Aidan Gibbs said this surprise discovery gives us fresh clues about how planetary systems form and change.
Scientists found it while NIRSpec was being used to study Beta Pictoris b's atmosphere.