A team of astronomers led by Bruce Macintosh from Stanford University (USA) has discovered, thanks to the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) instrument, a state-of-the-art camera to capture planets, a planet very similar to Jupiter, a “young Jupiter ”which weighs twice as much as this one but much less than the exoplanets observed so far directly. Its mass is approximately five times that of Jupiter.
“To detect exoplanets, other telescopes like NASA’s Kepler see their shadow; however, GPI sees its brilliance, it’s what we refer to as direct imaging , ”Macintosh explains.
Its name is 51 Eridani b and it orbits the star 51 Eridani just 13 astronomical units away from its star, which is about 20 million years old.
Thanks to the Gemini Planet Imager and its ability to detect objects that have a density much lower than any of those already discovered, it is possible to locate young planets like this one that still retain the heat derived from their formation stage . Thus, by examining thermal emissions, scientists have discovered that methane is the main component of its atmosphere, as it is on Jupiter.
In the study they also explain that this exoplanet was formed in a similar way to the process that Jupiter underwent in its evolution. The finding has been published in the journal Science .
