The newly discovered exoplanet YSES 2b is about 10,000 times fainter than its central star. This instrument was designed specifically for the direct imaging and characterisation of exoplanets,” he adds. “ And that is exactly what is possible with SPHERE at ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile. “ Only the use of modern adaptive optics on a large telescope of the eight-metre class, together with special high-contrast observation techniques, allows the direct imaging of such substellar objects in close proximity to their much brighter host stars,” Markus Mugrauer explains. In contrast, direct observation of exoplanets orbiting their central stars has so far been much less successful. However, the vast majority of them have only been detected using indirect observation methods. More than 4000 such planets are currently known to exist. Since the discovery of the first exoplanets a good 30 years ago, the number of newly discovered planets amongst distant stars has been growing steadily. The researchers have now published their observations in the current issue of the scientific journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics”. The team discovered the exoplanet using the SPHERE instrument at the Very Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile.

The planet orbits the Sun-like star YSES 2, which is about 360 light years away and located in the constellation Musca (the Fly) in the southern night sky. An international research team with the participation of Dr Markus Mugrauer from the Astrophysical Institute of Friedrich Schiller University Jena has succeeded in the direct imaging of a young exoplanet.

Recent exoplanets discovered