Astronomy:Gaia-4 b

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Gaia-4 b
Discovery
Discovered byStefánsson et al. 2025
Discovery siteGaia
Discovery date2024
Astrometry
Radial Velocity
Orbital characteristics
Inclination116.9 ± 4.4[1]
StarGaia-4
Physical characteristics
Mass11.8 MJ


Gaia-4 b is a massive gas giant exoplanet, classified as a super-Jupiter, orbiting the low-mass K-type star Gaia-4. Located approximately 244 light-years from Earth, it was discovered using astrometric data from the European Space Agency's Gaia mission, marking it as one of the first exoplanets confirmed through this method.[2][3][4][1][5][6] It has a mass of 11.8 MJ.[2]

Artistic Representation of Gaia-4 system (also Gaia-5 System)

Discovery

Gaia-4 b was identified through the Gaia mission's Data Release 3 (DR3), which detected the astrometric wobble of the host star caused by the planet's gravitational influence. Confirmation came via radial velocity measurements using ground-based spectrographs, including the Habitable-zone Planet Finder (HPF) on the Hobby-Eberly Telescope, the NEID spectrograph on the WIYN 3.5m Telescope, and the FIber-fed Echelle Spectrograph (FIES) on the Nordic Optical Telescope. These observations ruled out alternative explanations, such as a background star or binary companion, confirming Gaia-4 b as a planetary body.[7][8]

Host star

Gaia-4 is a K-type star located 244 ly from the Earth in the constellation Canes Venatici, with a right ascension of  13h 58m 1.62s and a declination of +31° 41′ 43.5″.[9][10]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Martin, Pierre-Yves (2025). "Planet Gaia-4 b" (in en). https://exoplanet.eu/catalog/gaia_4_b--10775/. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 "Gaia-4 b - NASA Science" (in en-US). 2025-02-15. https://science.nasa.gov/exoplanet-catalog/gaia-4-b/. 
  3. "Gaia-4 | NASA Exoplanet Archive". https://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/overview/Gaia-4. 
  4. "Wobbling stars reveal hidden companions in Gaia data" (in en). https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Gaia/Wobbling_stars_reveal_hidden_companions_in_Gaia_data. 
  5. Stefánsson, Gudmundur; Mahadevan, Suvrath; Winn, Joshua N.; Marcussen, Marcus L.; Kanodia, Shubham; Albrecht, Simon; Fitzmaurice, Evan; Mikulskytė, Onė et al. (February 2025). "Gaia-4b and 5b: Radial Velocity Confirmation of Gaia Astrometric Orbital Solutions Reveal a Massive Planet and a Brown Dwarf Orbiting Low-mass Stars" (in en). The Astronomical Journal 169 (2): 107. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/ada9e1. ISSN 0004-6256. Bibcode2025AJ....169..107S. 
  6. "First Gaia astrometric planet discovery confirmed" (in en). 2025-10-17. https://carnegiescience.edu/news/first-gaia-astrometric-planet-discovery-confirmed. 
  7. Robertson, Paul M. (2025-02-05). "HPF Confirms the First Exoplanet Discoveries from Gaia Astrometry" (in en-US). https://hpf.psu.edu/2025/02/04/gaia-4-5/. 
  8. info@noirlab.edu. "Gaia-4b/5b" (in en). https://www.noirlab.edu/public/images/noirlab2505c/. 
  9. "PM J13580+3141". https://simbad.cds.unistra.fr/mobile/object.html?object_name=Gaia-4. 
  10. "★ Gaia-4" (in en). https://www.stellarcatalog.com/stars/gaia-4.