Dailymail.co.uk - By Sarah Griffiths - 9 August, 2013
- Nasa believes the planet, GJ 504b is a magenta colour, based on infrared data from the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii
- The pink planet orbits its star at nearly nine times the distance Jupiter orbits the sun to challenge theoretical ideas of how giant planets form
- GJ 504b is about four times the mass of Jupiter and its star can be seen without a telescope in the constellation Virgo
Astronomers at Nasa have discovered a pink alien planet orbiting a star like our sun 57 light-years away that they said is the smallest by mass photographed so far.
Scientists believe the planet, GJ 504b, is thought to be a magenta colour, based on infrared data from the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii.
While GJ 504b is the the lowest-mass planet ever detected around a star using direct imaging techniques, but it is still several times the mass of Jupiter and similar in size.
The planet, GJ 504b (pictured) is the smallest exoplanet by mass orbiting a star like our sun, some 57 light-years away. It is thought to be a magenta colour, based on infrared data from the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii
Michael McElwain, a member of the discovery team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt, Maryland, said: 'If we could travel to this giant planet, we would see a world still glowing from the heat of its formation with a color reminiscent of a dark cherry blossom, a dull magenta.'
'Our near-infrared camera reveals that its color is much more blue than other imaged planets, which may indicate that its atmosphere has fewer clouds.'
GJ 504b orbits its star at nearly nine times the distance Jupiter orbits the sun, which poses a challenge to theoretical ideas of how giant planets form.
According to the most widely accepted theory, called the core-accretion model, Jupiter-like planets begin their life in the gas-rich debris disk that surrounds a young star, Francis Reddy of Nasa explained.
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