SPACE/COSMOS
UNM astronomers confirm new gas giant exoplanet with help from citizen scientists worldwide
University of New Mexico
image:
The planet, TOI-4465 b, is a gas giant located approximately 400 light-years from Earth.
view moreCredit: NASA
Astronomers from The University of New Mexico, along with U.S. and international researchers, have confirmed the existence of a new giant exoplanet, made possible through a collaboration with citizen sciences around the world. The discovery is detailed in a new paper published in The Astronomical Journal, with Postdoctoral Fellow Zahra Essack, Ph.D. as lead author, and Assistant Professor Diana Dragomir as co-author.
The planet, TOI-4465 b, is a gas giant located approximately 400 light-years from Earth. It was first spotted by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) space telescope as a possible single-transit event — a brief moment when the planet passed in front of its star. As part of confirming the planet, the researchers needed to catch another transit, which only happens once every 102 days, or roughly three times per year.
“The observational windows are extremely limited. Each transit lasts about 12 hours, but it is incredibly rare to get 12 full hours of dark, clear skies in one location,” explained Essack. “The difficulty of observing the transit is compounded by weather, telescope availability, and the need for continuous coverage.”
To overcome these difficulties, the team launched a coordinated international campaign spanning 14 countries. The effort included 24 citizen scientists across 10 countries, who used their personal telescopes to help observe the next transit. Their contributions provided critical, time-sensitive observations that complemented data from professional observatories.
“The discovery and confirmation of TOI-4465 b not only expands our knowledge of planets in the far reaches of other star systems but also shows how passionate astronomy enthusiasts can play a direct role in frontier scientific research. It is a great example of the power of citizen science, teamwork, and the importance of global collaboration in astronomy,” said Essack.
In addition to the citizen scientists, professional astronomers — including students — contributed supporting photometric observations, which measured changes in the star’s brightness as the planet passed in front of it, using established observatories.
Several key programs enabled this global effort including the TESS Follow-up Observing Program Sub Group 1 (TFOP SG1), the Unistellar Citizen Science Network, and the TESS Single Transit Planet Candidate (TSTPC) Working Group.
“What makes this collaboration effective is the infrastructure behind it. The Unistellar network provides standardized equipment and data processing pipelines, enabling high-quality contributions from citizen scientists. TFOP SG1 offers a global coordination framework that connects professional and amateur astronomers and observational facilities. The TSTPC Working Group, led by Professor Dragomir, brings together the detection and follow-up expertise needed for these challenging observations,” said Essack.
TOI-4465 b is a gas giant exoplanet about 25% larger in radius than Jupiter, nearly six times Jupiter’s mass, and almost three times as dense. The planet has a mildly elliptical orbit, leading to a temperature range of 375–478 K (about 200–400°F). TOI-4465 b is a rare example of a giant planet that is large, massive, dense, and temperate, and occupies a relatively underexplored region in terms of planet size and mass.
Long-period giant planets like TOI-4465 b can serve as a bridge between the extreme hot Jupiter exoplanets, which orbit very close to their stars, and the cold gas giants in our own solar system.
“This discovery is important because long-period exoplanets (defined as having orbital periods longer than 100 days) are difficult to detect and confirm due to limited observational opportunities and resources. As a result, they are underrepresented in our current catalog of exoplanets,” explained Essack. “Studying these long-period planets gives us insights into how planetary systems form and evolve under more moderate conditions.”
TOI-4465 b’s large size and cool temperatures make it a strong candidate for future atmospheric studies with telescopes like the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). It ranks among the best long-period exoplanets available for emission spectroscopy studies, which could uncover key details about its atmosphere.
This research paper is the sixth installment from the Giant Outer Transiting Exoplanet Mass (GOT 'EM) survey. The GOT 'EM survey aims to characterize long-period transiting giant planets by measuring their radii and masses through coordinated follow-up observations (transits and radial velocities, respectively).
This research was funded through a three-year NASA TESS General Investigatory Program Key Project (Grant: 80NSSC22K0185).
Journal
The Astronomical Journal
Method of Research
Observational study
Subject of Research
Not applicable
Article Title
Giant Outer Transiting Exoplanet Mass (GOT ‘EM) Survey. VI: Confirmation of a Long-Period Giant Planet Discovered with a Single TESS Transit
Article Publication Date
25-Jun-2025
UNM astronomers confirm new gas giant exoplanet with help from citizen scientists worldwide
University of New Mexico
image:
The planet, TOI-4465 b, is a gas giant located approximately 400 light-years from Earth.
view moreCredit: NASA
Astronomers from The University of New Mexico, along with U.S. and international researchers, have confirmed the existence of a new giant exoplanet, made possible through a collaboration with citizen sciences around the world. The discovery is detailed in a new paper published in The Astronomical Journal, with Postdoctoral Fellow Zahra Essack, Ph.D. as lead author, and Assistant Professor Diana Dragomir as co-author.
The planet, TOI-4465 b, is a gas giant located approximately 400 light-years from Earth. It was first spotted by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) space telescope as a possible single-transit event — a brief moment when the planet passed in front of its star. As part of confirming the planet, the researchers needed to catch another transit, which only happens once every 102 days, or roughly three times per year.
“The observational windows are extremely limited. Each transit lasts about 12 hours, but it is incredibly rare to get 12 full hours of dark, clear skies in one location,” explained Essack. “The difficulty of observing the transit is compounded by weather, telescope availability, and the need for continuous coverage.”
To overcome these difficulties, the team launched a coordinated international campaign spanning 14 countries. The effort included 24 citizen scientists across 10 countries, who used their personal telescopes to help observe the next transit. Their contributions provided critical, time-sensitive observations that complemented data from professional observatories.
“The discovery and confirmation of TOI-4465 b not only expands our knowledge of planets in the far reaches of other star systems but also shows how passionate astronomy enthusiasts can play a direct role in frontier scientific research. It is a great example of the power of citizen science, teamwork, and the importance of global collaboration in astronomy,” said Essack.
In addition to the citizen scientists, professional astronomers — including students — contributed supporting photometric observations, which measured changes in the star’s brightness as the planet passed in front of it, using established observatories.
Several key programs enabled this global effort including the TESS Follow-up Observing Program Sub Group 1 (TFOP SG1), the Unistellar Citizen Science Network, and the TESS Single Transit Planet Candidate (TSTPC) Working Group.
“What makes this collaboration effective is the infrastructure behind it. The Unistellar network provides standardized equipment and data processing pipelines, enabling high-quality contributions from citizen scientists. TFOP SG1 offers a global coordination framework that connects professional and amateur astronomers and observational facilities. The TSTPC Working Group, led by Professor Dragomir, brings together the detection and follow-up expertise needed for these challenging observations,” said Essack.
TOI-4465 b is a gas giant exoplanet about 25% larger in radius than Jupiter, nearly six times Jupiter’s mass, and almost three times as dense. The planet has a mildly elliptical orbit, leading to a temperature range of 375–478 K (about 200–400°F). TOI-4465 b is a rare example of a giant planet that is large, massive, dense, and temperate, and occupies a relatively underexplored region in terms of planet size and mass.
Long-period giant planets like TOI-4465 b can serve as a bridge between the extreme hot Jupiter exoplanets, which orbit very close to their stars, and the cold gas giants in our own solar system.
“This discovery is important because long-period exoplanets (defined as having orbital periods longer than 100 days) are difficult to detect and confirm due to limited observational opportunities and resources. As a result, they are underrepresented in our current catalog of exoplanets,” explained Essack. “Studying these long-period planets gives us insights into how planetary systems form and evolve under more moderate conditions.”
TOI-4465 b’s large size and cool temperatures make it a strong candidate for future atmospheric studies with telescopes like the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). It ranks among the best long-period exoplanets available for emission spectroscopy studies, which could uncover key details about its atmosphere.
This research paper is the sixth installment from the Giant Outer Transiting Exoplanet Mass (GOT 'EM) survey. The GOT 'EM survey aims to characterize long-period transiting giant planets by measuring their radii and masses through coordinated follow-up observations (transits and radial velocities, respectively).
This research was funded through a three-year NASA TESS General Investigatory Program Key Project (Grant: 80NSSC22K0185).
Journal
The Astronomical Journal
Method of Research
Observational study
Subject of Research
Not applicable
Article Title
Giant Outer Transiting Exoplanet Mass (GOT ‘EM) Survey. VI: Confirmation of a Long-Period Giant Planet Discovered with a Single TESS Transit
Article Publication Date
25-Jun-2025
James Webb Space Telescope discovers its first exoplanet
CNRS
image:
Image of the disk around the star TWA 7 recorded using ESO’s Very Large Telescope’s SPHERE instrument. The image captured with JWST’s MIRI instrument is overlayed. We can clearly see the empty area around TWA 7 B in the R2 ring (CC #1).
view moreCredit: © JWST/ESO/Lagrange
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The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has made it possible to better characterize known exoplanets since it was commissioned in 2022. Thanks to research led by a CNRS researcher1 at the Observatoire de Paris-PSL associated with the Université Grenoble Alpes, the telescope recently captured the direct image of a previously unknown exoplanet. This discovery, which is published on June 25 2025 in the journal Nature, is a first for the telescope, and was achieved using a French-produced coronagraph installed on the JWST’s MIRI instrument.
Exoplanets are key targets in observational astronomy, as they help better understand how planetary systems form, including our own. While thousands have been detected indirectly, obtaining images of exoplanets represents a genuine challenge2. They are less bright, and seen from the Earth are located very near their star; their signal, which is drowned out by that of the star, does not stand out enough to be visible. To overcome this problem, the CNRS developed, in collaboration with the CEA, a telescopic attachment for the JWST’s MIRI instrument–a coronagraph. It can reproduce the effect observed during an eclipse: masking the star makes it easier to observe the objects surrounding it, without them being hidden by its light. It is this technique that allowed the team led by a CNRS researcher to discover a new exoplanet, the first by the JWST. It is located within a disk of rocky debris and dusts.
Rings in Debris Disks
Scientists have focused on the most promising targets of observation: a few millions years old systems that can be seen “pole-on”, which allows for seeing the disks “from above”. The recently formed planets in these disks are still hot, which makes them brighter than their older counterparts. Low-mass planets are in principle easier to detect in the mid-infrared thermal range, for which the JWST has provided a unique window of observation. Among the disks seen from the front, two drew special attention from researchers, with previous observations revealing concentric ring-like structures within them.
The scientists had until now suspected that these structures resulted from gravitational interaction between unidentified planets and planetesimals3. One of the two systems, named TWA 7, has three distinct rings, one of which is especially narrow, and surrounded by two empty areas with almost no matter. The image obtained by the JWST revealed a source within the heart of this narrow ring. After eliminating the possibility of a potential observation bias4, the scientists concluded that it was most probably an exoplanet. Detailed simulations have indeed confirmed the formation of a thin ring and a “hole” at the exact planet’s position, which perfectly corresponds to the observations made with the JWST.
What Prospects for the Future Discovery of Exoplanets?
Named TWA 7 b, this new exoplanet is ten times lighter than those previously captured in images! Its mass is comparable to Saturn’s, which is approximately 30% that of Jupiter, the Solar System’s most massive planet. This result marks a new step in the research and direct imaging of increasingly small exoplanets, which are more similar to the Earth than to the gas giants of the Solar System. The JWST has the potential to go even further in the future. The scientists thus hope to capture images of planets with just 10% of Jupiter’s mass. This discovery shows the relevance of future generations of space-based and ground-based telescopes designed to search for exoplanets, especially with the help of more advanced coronagraphs. The most promising systems are already being identified for these future observations.
Notes
1 – From the LIRA, Laboratoire d’instrumentation et de recherche en astrophysique (CNRS/Observatoire de Paris/Sorbonne Université/université Paris Cité), the Institut de planétologie et d’astrophysique de Grenoble (CNRS/Université Grenoble Alpes), the Laboratoire d’étude de l’Univers et des phénomènes extrêmes (CNRS/Obs. de Paris/Sorbonne Université), the Centre de recherche astrophysique de Lyon (CNRS/ENS de Lyon/Université Claude Bernard), the Département d’informatique de l’École normale supérieure (CNRS/Inria/ENS-PSL) and the Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur (CNRS/OCA).
2 – Unlike a coronograph, the two most common methods of detection do not provide a direct image of the exoplanet, but rather its effect. Transit photometry uses a small drop of luminosity from the star when its planet is in front of it (seen from Earth). Radial velocity measures a star’s speed variations under its planet’s gravitational influence to deduct the existence of said planet.
3 – Rocky celestial bodies a few kilometers wide; they are the bricks for planet formation within developing star systems or in debris disks. Through collisions, they produce the dust observed within said disks.
4 – The source could have been a galaxy in the background.
Contacts
CNRS Researcher | Anne-Marie Lagrange | T +33 6 30 83 35 91 | anne-marie.lagrange@obspm.fr
CNRS Press | Maxime Flouriot | T +33 1 44 96 53 16 | maxime.flouriot@cnrs.fr
Journal
Nature
Method of Research
Observational study
Subject of Research
Not applicable
Article Title
Evidence for a sub-jovian planet in the young TWA7 disk
Article Publication Date
25-Jun-2025
Durham University scientists reveal new cosmic insights as first Rubin Observatory images released
Durham University
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NO IMAGES HERE
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory has today released its long-awaited first images of the night sky, marking the beginning of the most ambitious astronomical survey in history – the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST).
This significant project, over two decades in the making, will provide an ultra-high-definition, time-lapse view of the southern sky over the next ten years, capturing the evolution of the Universe in motion.
Each night, the Rubin Observatory will collect around 20 terabytes of data, imaging the entire visible sky every few days. The result will be a vast dataset containing observations of billions of stars, galaxies, asteroids, and other celestial objects.
The LSST aims to transform our understanding of the Universe, revealing phenomena ranging from the structure of the Milky Way and the nature of dark matter to the life cycles of stars and galaxies. The full survey is expected to produce over 500 petabytes of data - the equivalent of half-a-million 4K Hollywood movies.
The UK is playing a leading role in this international project, with £23 million of support from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) enabling British scientists to contribute to both the scientific goals and the advanced computing infrastructure behind the project.
The UK will host one of three global data centres that will manage and process Rubin’s data, supporting a science portal that connects around 1,500 researchers worldwide.
Durham University is one of the key UK institutions involved in LSST. Researchers at Durham are helping to develop sophisticated tools to handle and interpret the immense volumes of data Rubin will generate.
Durham University scientists will focus on a range of frontier topics in astrophysics, including the search for dark matter, the evolution of black holes and galaxies, the behaviour of transient cosmic events like supernovae, and the discovery of faint structures around the Milky Way.
Durham’s Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy is leading international efforts to investigate the behaviour of black holes. Dr Matthew Temple is heading a collaboration of 250 researchers working to identify over 100 million supermassive black holes that shine as active galactic nuclei.
By studying how these black holes flicker and vary in brightness over time, researchers will better understand how they formed and evolved alongside their host galaxies over billions of years.
Meanwhile, Scientists in Durham’s Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology are developing innovative techniques to search for the elusive dark matter. Assistant Professor Djuna Croon and her team are using Rubin data to look for tiny, invisible objects by observing how they bend light – a method known as gravitational microlensing.
Professor Alastair Edge is using Rubin’s frequent sky scans to explore how the biggest galaxies in the Universe grow and change. Other Durham scientists, including Professor Chris Done and Professor Simone Scaringi, will use the data to study energetic bursts and flares from stars and black holes, offering new insights into how matter behaves in the most extreme environments.
Durham’s strength in both observational astronomy and computational cosmology positions it to play a central role in the analysis of Rubin’s dataset.
Using powerful simulations and data analysis techniques, Durham University researchers will compare real-world discoveries with theoretical models, helping to answer fundamental questions about the Universe’s formation and structure.
High-resolution versions of the First Look images are now available to download and share.
ENDS
Media Information
Professor Alastair Edge from Durham University is available for interview and can be contacted on alastair.edge@durham.ac.uk.
Alternatively, please contact Durham University Communications Office for interview requests on communications.team@durham.ac.uk or +44 (0)191 334 8623.
Images
First Look images are available to view and download via the following link: https://nsf.widencollective.com/portals/qx867j4x/NSF-DOE-Rubin-First-Look#1cc45f23-f6cd-4ff4-a3ca-8c1749deaa04
About LSST:UK Consortium
To date, UK participation in the Rubin LSST has been funded by £23 million of investment by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), part of UK Research and Innovation. Computational resources used by LSST:UK are provided through the STFC-funded IRIS (www.iris.ac.uk) project.
Formed in 2014, the LSST:UK Consortium is made up of 36 partners representing all major UK astronomy research groups. Inspired by the breadth of scientific impact Rubin’s sky survey promises, researchers across the UK joined together more than a decade ago to coordinate UK involvement in the Rubin LSST.
The LSST:UK Consortium has created the LSST:UK Science Centre (LUSC), a distributed team of researchers and software developers addressing scientific and technical challenges that will enable astronomers to make discoveries within the multi-Petabyte dataset produced by LSST.
The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) supports research in astronomy, physics and space science, and operates world-class research facilities for the UK.
About the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory
The NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory is jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. Rubin Observatory is a joint Programme of NSF NOIRLab and DOE’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.
Rubin’s 3200-megapixel camera is the world’s largest digital camera. It’s the size of a car and weighs around 2,800kg.
Each night the observatory will produce approximately 20 terabytes of data – that’s more data than three years of streaming video, or 50 years of streaming music.
During its 10-year survey, Rubin will catalogue an estimated 17 billion stars, 20 billion galaxies, and millions of transients – more objects than there are living people on earth.
Over a decade, Rubin data processing will generate which is equivalent to the total amount of content written in every language throughout human history.
Each image taken by the camera is so large it would take a wall of 400 ultra-high-definition TV screens to display.
About Durham University
Durham University is a globally outstanding centre of teaching and research based in historic Durham City in the UK.
We are a collegiate university committed to inspiring our people to do outstanding things at Durham and in the world.
We conduct research that improves lives globally and we are ranked as a world top 100 university with an international reputation in research and education (QS World University Rankings 2026).
We are a member of the Russell Group of leading research-intensive UK universities and we are consistently ranked as a top 10 university in national league tables (Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide, Guardian University Guide and The Complete University Guide).
For more information about Durham University visit: www.durham.ac.uk/about/
END OF MEDIA RELEASE – issued by Durham University Communications Office.
Parker Solar Probe team receives Collier Trophy for record-breaking solar encounter
Naval Research Laboratory
image:
Samantha Magill (NAA vice chair, center) awards the Collier Trophy to Nicki Fox (Associate Administrator, NASA Science Mission Directorate, and former Parker Solar Probe Project Scientist), Andy Driesman (APL), Betsy Congdon (APL), and Bobby Braun (APL), June 12. The Collier Trophy is on display at the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum (Udvar-Hazy Center) and is engraved with the names of all past awardees.
view more
Credit: National Aeronautic Association
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Parker Solar Probe science and engineering team, a collaboration of scientists from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), NASA, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), and more than 40 other partner organizations, received the 2024 Robert J. Collier Trophy, awarded by the National Aeronautic Association (NAA), on June 12.
This annual award recognizes the most exceptional achievement in aeronautics and astronautics in America with respect to improving the performance, efficiency, and safety of air or space vehicles in the previous year.
NRL led the development of the Wide-field Imager for Parker Solar Probe (WISPR), the sole imaging instrument aboard the Parker Solar Probe. WISPR is joined by three other Parker instruments that probe the near-Sun environment locally. Operated by Johns Hopkins APL, WISPR records visible-light images of the solar corona and solar outflow in two overlapping cameras that together observe more than 100-degrees in angular width from the Sun. This NASA mission travels closer to the Sun than any other mission.
“I’m really proud of the Parker Solar Probe mission and the team,” said Mark Linton, Ph.D., WISPR Principal Investigator and head of NRL’s Heliophysics Theory and Modeling Section. “This mission has provided great imagery and other ground-breaking data since launch in 2018 up through December when it made its closest approach to the Sun.”
On Dec. 24, 2024, Parker Solar Probe made its closest approach to the Sun, venturing within the Sun’s corona, just 3.8 million miles above the Sun’s surface and at a top speed of close to 430,000 mph, pioneering a new era of scientific discovery and space exploration.
It has taken the team almost seven years, since the project launched on August 12, 2018, to accomplish this feat and Parker Solar Probe is the first human made object to get this close to the Sun.
Linton explained that the probe travels in orbit from the Sun’s atmosphere out to close to the orbit of Venus, which is about 70% of the distance from the Sun to the Earth. After it reaches this distance, the probe continues its orbit back in towards the Sun’s atmosphere. The entire orbit takes approximately three months to complete.
“The Parker Solar Probe’s goal is to study the atmosphere of the Sun, which it does by getting very close to it,” Linton said.
The Parker Solar Probe is providing images and critical data on the origin and evolution of the solar wind that helps understand and forecast space weather that affects life and technology on Earth.
“The science behind the mission aims to understand how the solar wind is accelerated and heated, and what the plasma characteristics are close to the Sun,” Linton said. “WISPR provides great visual imagery for context of what Parker Solar Probe is flying through and for advancing our understanding of the dynamic solar atmosphere and heliosphere.”
The NRL developed instrument provides images of the solar corona and inner heliosphere by observing visible light scattered by electrons in the solar wind. A series of linear baffles block the bright sunlight to enable imaging of the very faint coronal structures.
WISPR offers scientists insight into what Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) and reconnection outflows look like close to the Sun. The instrument delivers still images and video of what the atmosphere and solar wind look like nearest to the Sun. Understanding CMEs, solar wind, and their magnetic and electric fields is integral to our understanding of space weather, which can affect us here on Earth.
NRL is the WISPR principal investigator institution for NASA and leads a consortium of national and international science partners. NRL’s Space Science Division developed the WISPR instrument and delivered it to NASA in May of 2017.
First awarded in 1911, the Robert J. Collier Trophy winner is selected by a group of aviation leaders chosen by the NAA. The Collier Trophy is housed in the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington.
Parker Solar Probe was developed as part of NASA’s Living With a Star program to explore aspects of the Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. The program is managed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Johns Hopkins APL designed, built, and operates the spacecraft and manages the mission for NASA.
About the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
NRL is a scientific and engineering command dedicated to research that drives innovative advances for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps from the seafloor to space and in the information domain. NRL, located in Washington, D.C. with major field sites in Stennis Space Center, Mississippi; Key West, Florida; and Monterey, California, employs approximately 3,000 civilian scientists, engineers and support personnel.
For more information, contact NRL Corporate Communications at (202) 480-3746 or nrlpao@us.navy.mil.
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