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]
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