Kavli Affiliate: Andrew Vanderburg
| First 5 Authors: Mary Anne Limbach, Andrew Vanderburg, Ryan J. MacDonald, Kevin B. Stevenson, Sydney Jenkins
| Summary:
We report the detection of thermal emission from and confirm the planetary
nature of WD 1856+534b, the first transiting planet known to orbit a white
dwarf star. Observations with JWST’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) reveal
excess mid-infrared emission from the white dwarf, consistent with a
closely-orbiting Jupiter-sized planet with a temperature of $186^{+6}_{-7}$ K.
We attribute this excess flux to the known giant planet in the system, making
it the coldest exoplanet from which light has ever been directly observed.
These measurements constrain the planet’s mass to no more than six times that
of Jupiter, confirming its planetary nature and ruling out previously
unexcluded low-mass brown dwarf scenarios. WD 1856+534b is now the first intact
exoplanet confirmed within a white dwarf’s "forbidden zone", a region where
planets would have been engulfed during the star’s red giant phase. Its
presence provides direct evidence that planetary migration into close orbits,
including the habitable zone, around white dwarfs is possible. With an age
nearly twice that of the Solar System and a temperature akin to our own gas
giants, WD 1856+534b demonstrates JWST’s unprecedented ability to detect and
characterize cold, mature exoplanets, opening new possibilities for imaging and
characterizing these worlds in the solar neighborhood.
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