Astronomers Find The Lightest Exoplanet Ever Caught On Camera
Exoplanet HD 95086 b, next to its parent star The star itself was removed from the picture during processing to enhance the view of the faint exoplanet, which appears at the lower left. ESO's Very Large Telescope The exoplanet's predicted mass is only four to five times that of Jupiter. The image above contains what scientists believe is the lowest-mass exoplanet ever to be caught on camera. Called HD 95086 b, the newly discovered planet orbits a young star about 300 light-years from Earth. Based on the exoplanet's brightness, astronomers predict it has a mass just four to five times that of Jupiter. The planet's host star, which is slightly bigger than our sun and surrounded by a disc of debris, is fairly youthful-only 10 million to 17 million years old (the sun is about 4.6 billion years old). "The brightness of the star gives HD 95086 b an estimated surface temperature of about...