A team of expert astronomers has identified compelling signals suggesting a giant planet orbits Vega, one of the brightest stars in the night sky. These preliminary findings, pending confirmation, are detailed in The Astrophysical Journal.
Vega shines as the brightest star in the Lyra constellation. Younger than our Sun yet twice as massive, it lies just 25 light-years from Earth. Until now, no planets have been confirmed around this iconic star—but recent observations may change that.
As an A-type star, Vega is larger, younger, and spins far faster than the Sun. It completes one rotation every sixteen hours, compared to the Sun's twenty-seven Earth days. This rapid spin complicates precise measurements of stellar motion and potential orbiting planets. Undeterred, University of Colorado astronomer Spencer Hurt and colleagues analyzed a decade of data from Arizona's Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory.
Using the radial velocity method, the team detected subtle wobbles in Vega's motion—hallmarks of gravitational tugs from an orbiting planet. "If you have a planet around a star, it can swing it back and forth," explains co-author Samuel Quinn.
The analysis revealed a promising signal: Vega may host a "hot Neptune" or even a "hot Jupiter" orbiting so closely it completes a lap in under two and a half days. By contrast, Mercury takes 88 days to circle the Sun.
If confirmed, this planet could reach surface temperatures nearing 3000°C, making it the second-hottest known exoplanet after KELT-9b (shown above). Further observations are essential to verify its existence.
