Nasas planet hunting spacecraft discovered a super jupiter with a new method – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
Skip to main content
The homepageThe VergeThe Verge logo.
The homepageThe VergeThe Verge logo.
Posted
E
Emma Roth
NASA’s planet-hunting spacecraft discovered a “super-Jupiter” with a new method.

By looking through data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), researchers uncovered a planet through microlensing for the first time — a concept theorized by Einstein that picks up on planets as their gravity warps space-time.

Though the ESA’s now-retired Gaia telescope first discovered hints of the planet in 2023, TESS’s data revealed a planet that’s 1.6 times Jupiter’s mass and almost 40,000 light-years away from Earth.

An artist’s depiction of the “super Jupiter,” Gaia23bra b.
An artist’s depiction of the “super Jupiter,” Gaia23bra b.
Image: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.
Comments
Loading comments
Getting the conversation ready...

Most Popular

Most Popular
  1. OpenAI pauses training of its ‘most capable models’
  2. Leaks reveal a new Apple HomePod mini, iPad mini, and Apple TV 4K
  3. Can Apple Home’s AI camera features outsmart Amazon’s and Google’s? I put them to the test
  4. Can ‘eSUV’ e-bikes really go from trail to town?
  5. Control Resonant is a great game — it’s even better when you read everything

More in Science

Jensen Huang talks about AI and climate change like a supervillainJensen Huang talks about AI and climate change like a supervillain
Google is sending an AI satellite into space next weekGoogle is sending an AI satellite into space next week
Data centers are black boxes, but California wants to change that Data centers are black boxes, but California wants to change that 
Anthropic’s biolab made a discovery it’s comparing to CrisprAnthropic’s biolab made a discovery it’s comparing to Crispr
McDonald’s is testing ads on its drive-thru menusMcDonald’s is testing ads on its drive-thru menus
Eight Sleep’s new cooling hub is small enough to hide under your bedEight Sleep’s new cooling hub is small enough to hide under your bed

Top Stories