Confirmed – NASA Discovers New Planet Beyond Neptune

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Confirmed – NASA Discovers New Planet Beyond Neptune, Changing the Way We See the Universe – A Milestone in Astronomy

by Raquel

  05/02/2025 12:30 in Science

Confirmed - NASA Discovers New Planet Beyond Neptune, Changing the Way We See the Universe - A Milestone in Astronomy

Astronomers from MIT, the University of Liège in Belgium, and other institutions have stumbled upon a truly bizarre planet—an enormous, airy giant orbiting a distant star in our Milky Way. Their findings could help unlock the mystery of how these oversized, ultra-light planets come into existence.

Dubbed WASP-193b, this newly discovered world makes Jupiter look small by comparison, yet it barely has any heft. Scientists determined that this gas giant is 50% larger than Jupiter but only about a tenth as dense, giving it an almost impossibly low density—similar to cotton candy.

WASP-193b: the fluffiest of them all

Among the more than 5,400 exoplanets identified so far, WASP-193b stands out as one of the fluffiest. It’s the second lightest planet ever found, trailing only Kepler-51d, a smaller, Neptune-sized world. But thanks to its massive size and pillow-like density, WASP-193b is in a league of its own—like a planet-sized marshmallow floating through space.

“Finding giant planets with such incredibly low density is extremely rare,” says Khalid Barkaoui, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher at MIT. “There’s a category known as puffy Jupiters, and for 15 years, scientists have been scratching their heads over what they actually are. This planet is an extreme example of that group.”

“We have no idea where to fit this planet into our current formation theories—it doesn’t match any of them,” adds Francisco Pozuelos, co-lead author and senior researcher at the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia in Spain. “The usual models of planetary evolution just don’t account for something like this. Studying its atmosphere in more detail might help us figure out how this oddball came to be.”

Turns out, space is full of surprises—and sometimes, they come in extra-large, cotton-candy-wrapped packages.

The MIT team behind the study includes Julien de Wit, an assistant professor in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, as well as postdoctoral researcher Artem Burdanov. They worked alongside collaborators from various institutions across Europe to make sense of this cosmic oddball.

A cosmic curveball

The planet first caught astronomers’ attention thanks to the Wide Angle Search for Planets ( which has been named WASP, for those who say scientists don’t have a sense of humor). This WASP is a global collaboration of academic institutions running two robotic observatories, one in the northern hemisphere and the other in the south. These observatories scan the sky using wide-angle cameras, tracking the brightness of thousands of stars in search of hidden planets.

Turns out, WASP-193b wasn’t just hiding —it was floating around like a giant interstellar marshmallow, waiting to baffle scientists everywhere.

A planet on the puffy side

After crunching the numbers, the team confirmed that this planet is astonishingly light. They calculated its mass to be just 14% of Jupiter’s, and its density? A mere 0.059 grams per cubic centimeter—practically air compared to other planets. For reference, Jupiter sits at 1.33 grams per cubic centimeter, while Earth is a much heftier 5.51 grams per cubic centimeter. The closest thing we have to compare WASP-193b’s density to? Cotton candy, which clocks in at around 0.05 grams per cubic centimeter.

A giant balloon of a planet

Scientists believe that WASP-193b is mostly made of hydrogen and helium, much like other gas giants in the galaxy. But unlike its planetary cousins, this one appears to have an atmosphere that stretches tens of thousands of kilometers beyond Jupiter’s own—like a celestial balloon that just won’t stop expanding. Exactly how a planet can puff up this much while staying so incredibly light is a mystery that current planetary formation theories simply can’t explain.

To get a clearer picture of this cosmic marshmallow, the research team plans to use a technique developed by Julien de Wit, which will help determine key atmospheric properties such as temperature, composition, and pressure at different depths. These factors will then refine the planet’s exact mass.

For now, us non-scientists can add the WASP-193b planet to our list of things we would like to eat, but can’t. We might not be able to eat a mammoth ribeye steak, or bite a planet that looks like cotton candy, but they do sound extremely appetising.

NASA spots 'super Earth' 20 light-years away that could have ALIENS

Daily Mail

Story by Jonathan Chadwick For Mailonline

28/1/2025

For millennia, humans have asked whether we are alone in the universe, yet the discovery of aliens still eludes us. 

But if extraterrestrials do exist, scientists have found a promising location for where they could be hiding. 

Researchers from the University of Oxford have discovered an exoplanet dubbed HD 20794 d that could have the right conditions for life. 

More than six times as massive as Earth, scientists are describing it as a 'super Earth'. 

It is located in the Eridanus constellation and is in the habitable zone of its star, meaning liquid water – and therefore life – could potentially exist. 

Best of all, it's just 19.7 light-years away from Earth. 

This raises the tantalizing possibility that we could snap pictures of any aliens lurking there.

'Excitingly, its proximity with us – only 20 light-years – means there is hope for future space missions to obtain an image of it,' said Dr Michael Cretignier, who first spotted signs of the planet in 2022. 

Pictured, an artist's impression of the new planet HD 20794 d orbiting its star. The planet is six times as massive as Earth and just 20 light-years away

Its orbit places it within the habitable zone of the system, meaning it is at the right distance from its star to sustain liquid water on its surface, a key ingredient for life as we know it

Researchers from the University of Oxford have discovered an exoplanet dubbed HD 20794 d that could have the right conditions for life (stock image)

HD 20794 d was found using the HARPS (High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher) spectrograph at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. 

Described as one of the most successful ever planet finders, HARPS spends most nights monitoring stars for signals that indicate the presence of 'exoplanets' – planets outside of our solar system. 

It uses a planet-detecting method called radial velocity, also known as the wobble or Doppler method, which can detect 'wobbles' in a star caused by the gravitational pull of an orbiting planet. 

Using HARPS, Dr Cretignier spotted distinct, periodic shifts in the spectrum of light emitted by host star HD 20794, which he thought could have been caused by the gravitational pull of a nearby planet. 

But due to the faintness of the signal, it was not clear whether this was caused by a planet or due to background 'noise' or a subtle instrumental error. 

To verify the signal, an international team analysed precise measurements recorded over two decades by HARPS and its successor ESPRESSO, also in Chile.

By combining the results from the two instruments, the discovery was finally confirmed – a 'relief' according to Dr Cretignier because the original signal was at the edge of the spectrograph’s detection limit. 

The discovery, detailed in a new study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics,also relied on data from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). 

European Southern Observatory's (ESO) La Silla facility in La Higuera, Chile, home to the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) spectrograph

Described as one of the most successful ever planet finders, HARPS (pictured) spends most nights monitoring stars for signals that indicate the presence of 'exoplanets' - planets outside of our solar system

Planet HD 20794 d: Key facts 

Discovered: 2022

Star: HD 20794 (82 G. Eridani)

Orbital duration: 600 days

Constellation: Eridanus

Mass: 6 times that of Earth 

Distance away from us: 19.7 light years 

Dr Cretignier and colleagues know HD 20794 d has a mass six times that of Earth, but as yet they do not know the diameter. 

'The method we are using only provides the distance to the star (the orbital period) and the minimum mass of the planet and not the radius,' Dr Cretignier told MailOnline. 

Although the planet is located in the system’s habitable zone, it is too early to say whether it could host life. 

'It’s important to remember that having a planet in the habitable zone is not sufficient at all to have life on it,' he added.

'Both Mars and Venus are inside the habitable zone of the sun, but I highly don’t recommend you to go there on holiday.'

More questions will have to be answered about the planet first, such as whether it has water on it and if it has an atmosphere, according to the expert.

'The checklist is still long and we have decades of work in front of us,' Dr Cretignier told MailOnline.

Unlike most planets, HD 20794 d’s orbit around its star is 'elliptical' – elongated and not perfectly circular. 

This image shows the flux (the number of photons) on NASA's TESS detector while observing the star HD20794. TESS is a space mission measuring the photometry of the full sky from now a decade with the primary goal of detecting exoplanets using the transits method

Its distance from its star changes significantly, causing the planet to move from the outer edge of the habitable zone to the inner edge throughout its year. 

The star is 'a naked-eye star', meaning you could even observe it if you are looking the sky in the south hemisphere, Dr Cretignier added. 

Ultimately, the discovery could eventually give us the first signs of life outside our solar system – although there are many other promising exoplanet candidates. 

'Such a target will be among the primary target list of future space missions with such a purpose that will be on sky the next decade,' Dr Cretignier said. 

Already, NASA has a webpage dedicated to an exoplanet called 'HD 20794 d', which was discovered in 2011.

Dr Cretignier points out that this planet has an outdated name and is actually a different planet in the same system – HD 20794 c. 

The HD 20794 star has three known planets orbiting around it – but there could potentially be more out there waiting to be found. 

The whole system is 19.7 light years away, which, although relatively close to us in the universe is 'desperately out of reach'.

'On the scale of the universe, this is our neighbourhood,' Dr Cretignier said.

'Such is the paradox of the universe – it can be observed, not visited.' 

NASA CONFIRM‎S THERE ARE MORE THAN 5,000 PLANETS BEYOND OUR SOLAR SYSTEM 

NASA has confirmed that there are more than 5,000 known planets outside our solar system, known as exoplanets. 

As of January 28, 2025, there are 5,830 confirmed exoplanets, according to NASA's online exoplanet archive.

The total reached a milestone of 5,800 in early 2022. 

Exoplanets found so far include small, rocky worlds like Earth, gas giants many times larger than Jupiter, and 'hot Jupiters' in scorchingly close orbits around their stars.  

The more than 5,000 exoplanets confirmed in our galaxy so far include a variety of types - among them a mysterious variety known as 'super-Earths' because they are larger than our world and possibly rocky

However, NASA stresses that only 'a tiny fraction' of all the planets in the Milky Way galaxy alone have been found.   

The majority of exoplanets are gaseous, like Jupiter or Neptune, rather than terrestrial, according to NASA's online database.     

Most exoplanets are found by measuring the dimming of a star that happens to have a planet pass in front of it, called the transit method. 

Another way to detect exoplanets, called the Doppler method, measures the 'wobbling' of stars due to the gravitational pull of orbiting planets.