---
title: "Webb Telescope uncovers hidden giant planet Beta Pictoris d"
url: https://radiomoldova.md/p/81059/webb-telescope-uncovers-hidden-giant-planet-beta-pictoris-d
published: 2026-07-17T10:12:18Z
language: en
author: "Liubomir Guțu"
section: "International"
source: radiomoldova.md
---

# Webb Telescope uncovers hidden giant planet Beta Pictoris d

> Astronomers monitoring deep-space data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have discovered a giant exoplanet within one of the most intensively studied planetary systems in the Milky Way.

![](https://storage.radiomoldova.md/images/2e45e546-7406-4c81-b7ab-eb59bf4738b6.jpg)

Astronomers monitoring deep-space data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have discovered a giant exoplanet within one of the most intensively studied planetary systems in the Milky Way.

Located 63 light-years from Earth, the young star system Beta Pictoris was already known to host two massive gas giants: Beta Pictoris b—one of the first exoplanets ever directly imaged—and Beta Pictoris c.

Unlike its sister planets, Beta Pictoris d was not found through direct visual imaging. Instead, astronomers identified it by detecting the unique chemical fingerprint of its atmosphere, a breakthrough technique that could transform exoplanet exploration.

**A new piece in a cosmic laboratory**

*"This discovery adds a new piece to an already fascinating planetary system,"* said Aidan Gibbs, lead author of the study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters and a researcher at the University of California, San Diego. *"Beta Pictoris has long served as a laboratory for understanding how planetary systems form and evolve, and now we have a new planet to help us decipher that story."*

Estimated to be around 23 million years old, the system offers researchers a rare window into interactions between newborn planets and the surrounding disk of gas and dust.

Scientists estimate that Beta Pictoris d has a mass at least twice that of Jupiter, making it the smallest of the three giant planets in the system. It orbits its host star at a distance of roughly 30 astronomical units, a path comparable to Neptune's orbit around our Sun.

![science.nasa.gov](https://storage.radiomoldova.md/images/75359077-c74a-48f8-a0e2-66f2b628e881.jpg)

*Sursa: science.nasa.gov*

**A serendipitous discovery**

The team was not actively looking for a new planet. Beta Pictoris d emerged while researchers were using Webb’s infrared spectrograph to analyze the atmosphere of Beta Pictoris b.

*"We were trying to understand a planet we already knew existed," Gibbs explained. "Then, this unexpected signal appeared right in the data where we didn't expect it."*

Because spectroscopy reveals both chemical composition and physical movement, the team quickly confirmed that the object's speed and position matched a stable orbit around Beta Pictoris. Subsequent observations using Webb's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) detected water vapor and methane, confirming the planet's existence and providing a detailed atmospheric profile.

Beta Pictoris d remained hidden for decades because it orbits inside one of the brightest known debris disks. This thick belt of dust acts like a dense cosmic haze, scattering starlight and obscuring smaller bodies from traditional telescopes.

By bypassing optical imaging and isolating atmospheric molecular signatures directly, Webb's spectroscopic technique successfully pierced through the dust—opening a powerful new pathway for detecting hidden worlds across the galaxy.

Translation by **Iurie Tataru**