The planet consists of three stars: two similar to the sun and another dwarf. The discovery corresponds to an international research team in California, USA.
A New planet It was discovered in the nearest star system, according to a last publication on a specialized astronomy website. The finding corresponds to the system Alfa Centauri and It was due to a research team of the Technological Institute of California, USA.
The discovery, published in The Astrophysical Journal Lettersis an international research team led by the fellow Aniket Sanghifrom the Technological Institute of California (Caltech), who used data and images of the James Webb Space Telescope.
The finding refers to the system Alfa Centauri, composed of two stars similar to the sun, Alfa Centauri A and Alfa Centauri Band a red dwarf star called Next Centauri.
They discovered a new planet in the closest star system
Observed together with the naked eye, they appear in heaven as a single light point, the third brightest star. Besidesthree planets have already been observed around these starsbut new visualization with the Webb telescope indicate the presence of a fourth planet.
ALFA Centauri Ayb
@esa_webb
Unlike the others, the new planet would be located in the so -called habitable zone, that is, at the right distance from its star so that there is liquid water on its surface.
However, the study authors add, it would be a gaseous planet, a kind of large gas sphere without a real solid surface. Now it will be necessary to repeat the observations to obtain new images.
“If confirmed, the possible planet observed in the image of the webb of Alfa Centauri a It would mark a new milestone in the investigation of exoplanet images, ”said Sanghi.
According to the researcher, “of all the planets observed directly, this would be the closest to its star to date. It is also the most similar in temperature and age to the giant planets of our solar system, and the closest to our home, the earth.”
Astronomers detect possible birth of a planet at 440 light years from Earth
He VLT telescope of the Southern European Observatory (ESO) in Chili allowed to register a phenomenon as the work of a “cosmic sculptor”, which models an intricate design in the gas and dust disc of a young mother star. The finding was published in Astronomy & Astrophysics by an international team led by the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF).
“We can never witness the formation of the land, but here, around a young star 440 light years away, we could be witnessing the birth of a planet in real time”he said Francesco Maioof the University of Florence and INAF ARCETRIDirector of the study.
According to estimates, the Newborn planet I would have Double Jupiter’s size and would be at a distance from its star similar to that of Neptune Regarding the sun.
Source: Ambito
