Scientists have discovered a planet 12 times larger than Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system.
In fact, Jupiter feels like a dwarf planet compared to this planet, and what's more surprising is that this huge planet is orbiting a star smaller than our Sun.
Scientists discovered the planet 244 light-years from Earth and named it Gaia-4b, along with a smaller asteroid Gaia-5b 134 light-years away.
The European Space Agency's Gaia spacecraft helped discover the planet.
The spacecraft had recently run out of fuel and it gave scientists a hint of the giant planet.
After which it was confirmed with the help of other scientific instruments.
Although the Gaia spacecraft's scientific observation series ended on January 15, 2025, there is much hidden in its data and all these details will be revealed gradually.
"The discovery of the planet is exciting, in fact we believe it is just the beginning of the secrets that will be revealed by data from the Gaia spacecraft in the future," said researcher Matthew Steading from the European Space Agency.
So far, scientists have discovered a total of 5,800 planets in the universe, while thousands more are being investigated before they are officially accepted as planets.
According to an estimate, there are billions of galaxies in the universe, so the number of planets will be more than our estimates.
Scientists have described Gaia-4b as a super-Jupiter that is made of cold gas and orbits its star in 570 Earth days.
According to scientists, the mass of this planet is equal to 64% of the area of its star, which is why it is considered one of the few large planets orbiting a small star.
The results of this research were published in the Astrophysical Journal.
