{"id":710830,"date":"2026-07-25T17:38:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T17:38:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/710830\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T17:38:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T17:38:25","slug":"james-webb-telescope-discovers-hidden-giant-planet-in-famous-star-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/710830\/","title":{"rendered":"James Webb Telescope Discovers Hidden Giant Planet in Famous Star System"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Beta<\/a>This artist\u2019s concept shows the Beta Pictoris system with the discovered giant exoplanet Beta Pictoris d at the right. It has the widest orbit of the known three exoplanets within the system. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Ralf Crawford (STScI)<\/p>\n

Webb found a hidden giant planet by detecting its atmospheric chemistry through a bright debris disk.<\/p>\n

For years, a third giant planet remained concealed within the bright dust surrounding Beta Pictoris, one of the most closely observed planetary systems in the Milky Way. NASA\u2019s James Webb Space Telescope has now exposed the hidden world by detecting molecules in its atmosphere.<\/p>\n

The young star was already known to host Beta Pictoris b, one of the earliest exoplanets captured through direct imaging, and Beta Pictoris c. The addition of Beta Pictoris d makes Beta Pictoris only the second known system with at least three imaged planets. Unlike its two companions, the new planet was initially recognized through its atmospheric chemical signature rather than as a distinct point of light, demonstrating a potentially valuable way to find other difficult-to-see worlds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis discovery adds another piece to an already fascinating planetary system,\u201d said Aidan Gibbs, lead author of a new study published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, San Diego. \u201cBeta Pictoris has long served as a laboratory for understanding how planetary systems form and evolve, and now we have another planet helping us tell that story.\u201d<\/p>\n

A third giant reshapes the system<\/p>\n

Beta Pictoris lies 63 light-years from Earth and is approximately 23 million years old. Its relative youth and proximity allow astronomers to examine how newly formed planets interact with the remaining disk of dust and debris from the system\u2019s formation.<\/p>\n

\"Beta<\/a>Researchers used the NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) Integral Field Unit on NASA\u2019s James Webb Space Telescope to map chemical contents of the Beta Pictoris system. As a result, they discovered a third planet, Beta Pictoris d, orbiting the young star. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Leah Hustak (STScI); Science: Aidan Gibbs (UC San Diego), Jean-Baptiste Ruffio (UC San Diego), Alexis Bidot (STScI); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)<\/p>\n

Researchers estimate that Beta Pictoris d has at least twice Jupiter\u2019s mass, making it the least massive of the system\u2019s three known giant planets. Models place its orbit about 30 astronomical units from the star, similar to Neptune\u2019s position in our solar system. It follows the widest orbit of the three planets but remains inside the debris disk\u2019s inner boundary.<\/p>\n

A chemical barcode exposes the planet<\/p>\n

The researchers did not set out to find another planet. They were using Webb\u2019s NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) to examine the atmosphere of Beta Pictoris b when evidence of Beta Pictoris d appeared. The observation relied on NIRSpec\u2019s Integral Field Unit, which records an image while collecting a spectrum from every pixel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe weren\u2019t looking for a new planet,\u201d said Gibbs. \u201cWe were trying to understand one we already knew existed. Then, this telltale signal appeared in the data where we didn\u2019t expect it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where reflected light from dust should have produced a smooth spectrum, the researchers instead saw repeated peaks and dips. The pattern came from carbon monoxide absorption lines, arranged like a barcode and characteristic of the atmospheres of giant planets.<\/p>\n

Spectroscopy can reveal both an object\u2019s chemical makeup and its movement. By measuring radial velocity, the researchers determined that the source\u2019s speed, location and alignment with the debris disk matched an object orbiting Beta Pictoris. The evidence did not fit a distant background star or a brown dwarf containing carbon monoxide.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was an unexpected bright source of light within the Integral Field Unit imaging, but we\u2019ve learned not to trust bright blobs in images,\u201d said Jean-Baptiste Ruffio, a research scientist at the University of California, San Diego and principal investigator of the first Webb observations where the discovery was made. \u201cThey can be instrumental artifacts or other structures in the debris disk. By obtaining a spectrum at the same time as the image, we were able to quickly confirm our suspicions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Follow-up observations obtained through a Director\u2019s Discretionary Time request used Webb\u2019s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) to detect methane and water vapor. Those molecules provided additional confirmation that the object was a planet and revealed more about its atmosphere.<\/p>\n

\"James<\/a>The newly discovered third planet orbiting Beta Pictoris, Beta Pictoris d, is seen in reconstructed imagery from NASA\u2019s James Webb Space Telescope\u2019s NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph). Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Science: Aidan Gibbs (UC San Diego), Jean-Baptiste Ruffio (UC San Diego); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)<\/p>\n

Because the planet was identified spectroscopically, astronomers could begin investigating its atmospheric properties during the same observation that revealed it.<\/p>\n

\u201cA spectrum contains an incredible amount of information,\u201d Ruffio said. \u201cYou don\u2019t just learn that something is a planet; you immediately begin learning about its temperature, chemistry, and motion.\u201d<\/p>\n

An independent imaging analysis led by Ben Sutlieff of the University of Edinburgh and Markus Bonse of the European Southern Observatory supported the discovery. That work used observations from the European Southern Observatory\u2019s Very Large Telescope and Webb\u2019s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) to confirm Beta Pictoris d separately.<\/p>\n

Spectroscopy sees through the debris<\/p>\n

Beta Pictoris d avoided detection for so long because it lies within one of the brightest debris disks astronomers have observed.<\/p>\n

Dust scattered the star\u2019s light like fog, obscuring the difference between an actual planet and features within the disk. Webb\u2019s spectroscopic approach largely bypassed that confusion by isolating the narrow molecular signals produced by a planetary atmosphere.<\/p>\n

The planet may also explain several unusual features of the disk, including its sharply defined inner boundary. Astronomers had previously proposed that an unseen planet resembling Beta Pictoris d could be shaping the disk into its observed structure.<\/p>\n

Atmospheric fingerprints expand the search<\/p>\n

The finding does more than add another planet to the Beta Pictoris system. It demonstrates a new strategy for detecting exoplanets in environments where dust or other structures interfere with conventional imaging.<\/p>\n

Beta Pictoris d is the first directly imaged planet found primarily through moderate-resolution spectroscopy. The result shows that atmospheric fingerprints can reveal planets in visually complex systems without relying entirely on traditional coronagraphic imaging.<\/p>\n

The researchers will continue examining Webb\u2019s data to refine estimates of the planet\u2019s orbit, temperature and atmospheric composition. Those measurements should provide a more complete picture of one of the best-known young planetary systems in astronomy.<\/p>\n

Reference: \u201cDiscovery of an Exterior Third Planet Orbiting \u03b2 Pictoris\u201d by Aidan Gibbs, Jean-Baptiste Ruffio, Alexis Bidot, Travis S. Barman, Clarissa R. Do \u00d3, Quinn M. Konopacky, Marshall D. Perrin, Aneesh Baburaj, Beck Dacus, Bruce Macintosh, Alex Madurowicz and Jerry W. Xuan, 15 July 2026, The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
DOI: 10.3847\/2041-8213\/ae801b<\/a><\/p>\n

Support for program 8063 was provided by NASA through a grant from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-03127.<\/p>\n

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Follow us on Google<\/a> and Google News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This artist\u2019s concept shows the Beta Pictoris system with the discovered giant exoplanet Beta Pictoris d at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":710831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[1813,11745,85199,7849,10559,92,90,416,41486,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-710830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-astronomy","tag-astrophysics","tag-carbon-monoxide","tag-exoplanet","tag-james-webb-space-telescope","tag-nasa","tag-science","tag-space","tag-spectroscopy","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=710830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/710831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=710830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=710830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=710830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}