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Astronomers have discovered a planet 100 light years away that looks a lot like Jupiter once did and may offer new insights on how planets are formed, researchers said Thursday.<\/p>\n
Known as 51 Eridani b, it is the first exoplanet detected by a new instrument called the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI), according to the report in the journal Science.<\/p>\n
It is “the first young planet that probably looks like Jupiter did billions of years ago, making it currently our most important corner-piece of the planet formation jigsaw puzzle,” said Travis Barman, an associate professor of planetary sciences at the University of Arizona.<\/p>\n
The star it circles, 51 Eridani, is just 20 million years old — fairly young considering the Sun is about 4.5 billion years old.<\/p>\n
Enshrouded in methane, the planet is about twice the mass of Jupiter — the largest planet in our solar system — and contains the strongest methane signature ever detected in the atmosphere of an alien planet.<\/p>\n
Its temperature is estimated to be about 800 degrees Fahrenheit (427 Celsius), hot enough to melt lead.<\/p>\n
“This is exactly the kind of planet we envisioned discovering when we designed GPI,” said James Graham, a University of California, Berkeley professor of astronomy and the GPI project scientist.<\/p>\n
“We wanted to find planets when they’re young so we can figure out the formation process.”<\/p>\n
The Gemini Planet Imager was designed to discover faint, young planets orbiting bright stars.<\/p>\n
The instrument is about the size of a small car and is mounted on the eight-meter (yard) Gemini South telescope in Chile. It began operating in December 2014.<\/p>\n
A separate NASA mission known as the Kepler space telescope searches for planets by studying the dim in starlight that can be glimpsed when a planet passes in front of a star.<\/p>\n
Kepler’s main goal is to find Earth-like planets that might be able to support life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Astronomers have discovered a planet 100 light years away that looks a lot like Jupiter once did and may offer new insights on how planets are formed, researchers said Thursday. Known as 51 Eridani b, it is the first exoplanet detected by a new instrument called the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI), according to the report in the journal Science. It is “the first young planet… <\/p>\n