Rare 'super-Neptune' exoplanet found orbiting nearby star

Astronomers using telescopes from around the world have discovered an exoplanet more massive than Neptune, orbiting a star cooler than the Sun at an orbital radius similar to that of the Earth.

Around cool stars, this orbital region is thought to be the birth place of gas-giant planets, according to the researchers at National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.

The results, published in the Astronomical Journal, suggest that Neptune-sized planets could be common around this orbital region.

Because the exoplanet discovered is closer than other planets discovered by the same method, it is a good target for follow-up observations by telescopes like the Subaru Telescope, the researchers said.

In 2017, amateur astronomer Tadashi Kojima in Gunma Prefecture, Japan reported an enigmatic new object in the constellation Taurus.

Astronomers around the world began follow-up observations and determined that this was an example of a rare event known as gravitational microlensing.

The researchers ...