HD 95086 b. It doesn’t sound like much—maybe a catalogue reference number or a barcode—but it’s actually the alien world 4 or 5 times the size of Jupiter just discovered and photographed by the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile. Located in the southern constellation of Carina, pictured below, the planet is believed to have surface temperatures around 1,300 degrees Fahrenheit.
Why the fuss? Most of the 1,000 or so planets discovered thus far have been found through indirect detection. When the recorded light of a star disappears for a time, it indicates to astronomers that a planet is orbiting around it. But HD 95086 b is one of only 12 exoplanets (planets beyond our solar system) to be directly imaged, and the smallest of those 12. Even better, the star it orbits, relatively young at 10 to 17 million years old, is surrounded by a disc composed of gas and dust which may hide more planets, according to The DailyBeast.com.
Julien Rameau was the lead author of the paper presenting these findings at the symposium sponsored by the International Astronomical Union in British Columbia this week. According to latimes.com, Rameau stated that “Direct imaging planets is an extremely challenging technique that requires the most advanced instruments, whether ground-based or space. Only a few planets have been directly observed so far, making every single discovery an important milestone on the road to understanding giant planets and how they form."
The paper will be published in Astrophysical Journal Letters.