Overview
- Researchers, who reported the result Tuesday, confirmed a second planet in the system using VLT/SPHERE imaging and the GRAVITY instrument that combines VLT telescopes into one sharper view.
- The GRAVITY K-band spectrum shows carbon monoxide absorption at 2.3 microns, which is a telltale sign of a hot, young giant planet’s atmosphere.
- Fitting models to the spectrum suggests a mass of roughly 8 to 12 times Jupiter’s, which is about twice the mass of the previously found WISPIT 2b.
- Astrometric checks rule out a background star and show only slight orbital motion, so the team calls for more precise follow-up to pin down the orbit and refine properties.
- WISPIT 2 already hosts a ~4.9‑Jupiter‑mass planet in a wide disk gap, making this rare multi-planet nursery a valuable test bed for how giant worlds carve rings and grow in their birth disks.