Overview
- WISPIT 2c, which the team reported Tuesday in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, was confirmed with VLT/SPHERE imaging and VLTI/GRAVITY+ spectroscopy that spotted carbon‑monoxide absorption by combining light from four 8‑meter telescopes to see close to the star.
- The spectrum and models point to a mass of about 8–12 Jupiters, an effective temperature of roughly 1,500–2,600 K, and a radius near 0.9–2.2 times Jupiter’s.
- The planet sits about four times closer to WISPIT 2 than the previously imaged WISPIT 2b and is roughly twice as massive, which made the close‑in detection especially hard for ground‑based telescopes.
- Astrometric checks rule out a background object and early measurements hint at orbital motion, with follow‑up needed to nail down the orbit.
- With two gas giants carving gaps in a multi‑ringed disk and a smaller outer gap that may signal a third, lower‑mass world, the 5‑million‑year‑old system joins PDS 70 as a rare testbed for watching planets take shape.