Gaia-4b/5b (IMAGE)
Caption
Gaia-4b is a planet orbiting the star called Gaia-4, around 244 light-years away. Gaia-4b is about twelve times more massive than Jupiter. With an orbital period of 570 days, it is a relatively cold gas giant planet. Gaia-5b is a brown dwarf orbiting the star Gaia-5, around 134 light-years away from Earth. With a mass of around 21 Jupiters, Gaia-5b is more massive than a planet but too light to sustain the nuclear fusion necessary to be a star. This artist impression visualises a portion of both objects’ orbital motions as determined by Gaia’s astrometric data. The stars and planets are not to scale.
Credit
ESA/Gaia/DPAC/M. Marcussen
Usage Restrictions
Credit must be given to the creator.
License
CC BY