Massive Extraterrestrial Planet, 11 Times Heavier than Jupiter, Located at a Distance of 300 Light-Years
Astronomers in Poland have unearthed a colossal exoplanet, more than 11 times the mass of Jupiter, earning it a coveted spot among the heaviest known worlds. This gargantuan celestial body is a chilly super-Jupiter, meaning it's considerably colder and bigger than Jupiter, our benchmark for the largests planets.
These astounding findings were detailed in a research paper published last month in Astronomy & Astrophysics. This humongous world orbits a star system about 300 light-years away from us, nestled in the Great Bear constellation. The host star, HD 118203, is slightly heavier and twice as large as our sun, yet it's older than our star.
Intriguingly, another planet around the same system had been detected back in 2005 by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Though Doppler observations hinted at the possibility of another planet, its existence was yet to be confirmed. Consequently, researchers promptly included this system in their observation plans.
Using TESS data and observations from the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo and Hobby-Eberly telescopes, the team identified another object orbiting the star. Though the planet itself remains shrouded in the star's brilliance and remains invisible, its presence was deduced by observing slight changes in the star's brightness over time, as revealed by radial velocity data.
The hot Jupiter detected in 2005 has an orbital period of just over six days. On the other hand, the newfound cold super-Jupiter takes a leisurely 14 years to complete its circumnavigation of its star. This exoplanet dethrones TRES-4b, the largest known exoplanet, which is located about 1,430 light-years away in the constellation Hercules, featuring a 142,915-mile (230,000-km) diameter.
Even though the newly identified exoplanet is less massive than TRES-4b, its density makes it more impressive. The border between the "most massive exoplanet" and the "least massive brown dwarf" is often blurred, but the cold super-Jupiter, with a mass of approximately 11 times that of Jupiter, falls within this category.
A prominent example of a brown dwarf in this class is Beta Pictoris b, located around 63 light-years away and weighing approximately 12 times the mass of Jupiter.
[1] To obtain more specific information about the HD 118203 system, you can conduct a more targeted search for studies that directly address this system, explore astronomical databases such as NASA Exoplanet Archive or ESA's Exoplanet Catalog, or delve into recent research on exoplanet science. There might be relevant studies that didn't appear in the original search results.
The discovery of this colossal exoplanet in the HD 118203 system highlights the ongoing advancements in technology and science, enabling us to explore the far reaches of space and uncover planets beyond our solar system. With continuous improvements in telescope technology and data analysis methods, we can expect more discoveries of such massive worlds in the future.
This exciting finding further expands our understanding of the diverse range of celestial bodies that exist in the universe, pushing the boundaries of what we know about the nature of exoplanets and their relation to stars, including their formation and evolution.
