Astronomers Capture First Direct Image of Planet Near Binary Stars
Using advanced imaging techniques, astronomers have captured the first direct image of an exoplanet orbiting very close to a pair of binary stars. The discovery challenges existing theories on how planets form and survive in multi-star systems.
- The newly imaged planet, named HD 143811 b, is a gas giant five to six times the mass of Jupiter. It orbits a young, 15-million-year-old binary star system located approximately 447 light-years from Earth in the Scorpius-Centaurus stellar nursery. - This world is the seventh circumbinary planet ever to be directly photographed and, crucially, the closest to its host stars, orbiting at a distance of 60 astronomical units—roughly twice the distance from the Sun to Pluto. - The discovery was the result of the COBREX project, which reanalyzes thousands of archival observations with advanced tools. Researchers first identified a potential candidate in data from 2016 and 2019 taken by the Gemini Planet Imager. - Confirmation was achieved in July 2025 using the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch (SPHERE) instrument on the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile. - Direct imaging of exoplanets is exceptionally challenging as the light from the host star typically overwhelms the faint light of an orbiting planet. Fewer than 50 planets have been directly photographed over the past two decades. - The close orbit of HD 143811 b presents a significant test for planet formation models, especially the core accretion theory, under the complex gravitational influence of two stars.
