May 11, 2021
A giant gas exoplanet in an unusually large orbit has been directly imaged by astronomers via the Young Suns Exoplanet Survey (YSES). It is 20 times as far from its star as Jupiter is from our sun.
Direct image of the giant exoplanet YSES 2b (marked as “b”). The star in the middle of the bright dots has been hidden to block its light. Image via ESO/ SPHERE/ VLT/ Bohn et al./ Astronomie.nl.
Astronomers have discovered many giant planets, similar to Jupiter or Saturn, orbiting other stars. Some of these – called hot Jupiters – are unlike any planets in our solar system, however, circling