Gas Giant Planets

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  Astronomers Capture Two Giant Planets Forming Around Young Star WISPIT 2

  Astronomers have directly imaged two giant planets forming around the young star WISPIT 2. The system, just 5.4 million years old, shows rings, gaps, and active planet formation, offering a rare real-time glimpse into how solar systems like ours are born.

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  Jupiter Resumes Direct Motion This March as the Gas Giant Hits Peak Visibility for 2026 Skywatchers

  Jupiter’s retrograde motion ends around March 10, 2026, when the giant planet appears to reverse direction in the sky. The effect is caused by Earth overtaking Jupiter in its orbit. The bright planet will shine in Gemini near Castor and Pollux throughout March.

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  NASA Juno Mission Uncovers Subtle Geometric Shifts That Challenge Existing Models of the Jovian Interior

  Scientists have refined Jupiter’s size and shape using modern radio signal observations, finding the giant planet slightly smaller and more flattened than earlier estimates. Though the difference is only a few kilometres, researchers say it greatly improves models of Jupiter’s interior, gravity, and atmospheric structure, offering deeper insigh...

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  James Webb Space Telescope Spots an Exoplanet Losing Its Atmosphere in a Huge Helium Stream

  Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have observed a massive helium cloud escaping from the super-puff exoplanet WASP-107b, marking the first direct detection of such atmospheric loss. Webb’s infrared data reveal an enormous exosphere nearly ten times the planet’s radius, with helium streaming both ahead of and behind the plane...

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  Astronomers Capture First-Ever Image Of A Baby Planet Forming In Real Time

  Astronomers have made a groundbreaking discovery by directly observing a young protoplanet, WISPIT 2b, embedded in a ring-shaped gap in a disk around a young star.

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  A Planet Is Being Born: Astronomers Capture Rare Cosmic Snapshot

  Astronomers have captured a groundbreaking sight: WISPIT 2b, a baby gas giant planet forming within a dusty, multi-ring protoplanetary disk around a young Sun-like star 430 light-years away. Infrared images from the Very Large Telescope show the planet carving a dark path in the rings as it feeds on gas and dust. This rare discovery provides the fi...

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  James Webb Telescope Detects Potential Gas Giant Exoplanet Just 4 Light-Years Away

  Astronomers using JWST have spotted a possible gas giant orbiting Alpha Centauri A, only 4 light-years away. If confirmed, it would be the closest exoplanet to a Sun-like star ever imaged. The discovery could challenge current models of planetary formation in binary systems and open new opportunities for studying nearby worlds.

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  Doomed Exoplanet TOI-2109b Spirals Toward Its Star with Three Possible Fates

  The gas giant TOI-2109b, over five times Jupiter’s mass, is spiraling closer to its star in a rare planetary death spiral. With a 16-hour orbit and blistering heat, the exoplanet could either plunge into its host star, be torn apart by tidal forces, or evolve into a rocky super-Earth through photoevaporation. NASA’s TESS and ESA’s Cheops data...

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  Young Exoplanet Spotted Shedding Atmosphere Under Stellar Radiation

  NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope have captured a dramatic cosmic event: a baby exoplanet, TOI 1227 b, is being stripped of its atmosphere by powerful X-rays from its host star. Only 8 million years old and orbiting a red dwarf, this Jupiter-sized planet is losing gas at a rate equal to Earth’s entire atmosphere every ...

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  Did Something Hit Saturn? Astronomers Investigate Possible Impact Flash

  Unlike rocky planets where asteroid impacts leave visible craters, gas giants like Saturn have outer layers of hydrogen and helium that can absorb impacts without obvious traces.

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  Astronomers Discover Likely Site Of New Gas Giant Planet In Formation

  The astronomers now hope to be able to take an actual image of the young planet using the sensitivity of JWST.

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  Discovery Of Small Star Giving Birth To Huge Planet Leaves Scientists Puzzled

  TOI-6894 is roughly 240 light-years from Earth in the constellation Leo and is the smallest-known star to host a large planet.

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  Coldest Exoplanet Orbiting A Dead Star Found By Scientists

  Scientists said it was the first intact exoplanet to have been found in the forbidden zone of a star.

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  New Study Reveals How Jupiter’s Storms Hide Ammonia

  A new study reveals Jupiter’s monster storms create mushballs—giant hailstones made of ammonia and water. This discovery explains the puzzling absence of ammonia in the planet’s upper atmosphere and suggests similar processes might be happening on gas giants across the universe.

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  Exoplanet WASP-121 b’s Atmosphere Features Iron Rains, Jet Streams, and More

  Astronomers have uncovered extreme weather patterns on WASP-121 b, a gas giant 900 light-years from Earth. The planet experiences iron rain, with metals vaporizing on its scorching dayside and condensing into liquid at night. Supersonic winds carry elements across its atmosphere, forming powerful jet streams. Using the Very Large Telescope, researc...