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  • Introducing Enaiposha: A Newly Discovered Exoplanet Classified As Super-Venus

Updated March 28th 2025, 08:50 IST

Introducing Enaiposha: A Newly Discovered Exoplanet Classified As Super-Venus

Enaiposha is believed to have located 47 light-years from our solar system.

Reported by: N. Lothungbeni Humtsoe
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Venus Cloud Tops Viewed by Hubble. This is a NASA Hubble Space Telescope ultraviolet-light image of the planet Venus, taken on January 24 1995, when Venus was at a distance of 70.6 million miles 113.6 million kilometers from Earth.
This is a NASA Hubble Space Telescope ultraviolet-light image of the planet Venus, taken on January 24 1995, when Venus was at a distance of 70.6 million miles 113.6 million kilometers from Earth. | Image: NASA

Enaiposha: Meet the new planet Enaiposha, also known as GJ 1214 b. This exoplanet was initially classified as a mini-Neptune, because of its size being smaller than Neptune but rich in gases.

However, after re-evaluating using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers discovered that Enaiposha shares more similarities with Venus than previously thought, leading to the proposal of a new classification as a ‘Super-Venus.’

Also read: Who Was Bruce McCandless II? First Person to Spacewalk Untethered in Space

As it sped away from Venus, NASA's Mariner 10 spacecraft captured this seemingly peaceful view of a planet the size of Earth, wrapped in a dense, global cloud layer. But, contrary to its serene appearance, the clouded globe of Venus is a world of intense heat, crushing atmospheric pressure and clouds of corrosive acid. Image: NASA

Details of the study after traces of gases were detected in the planet's spectrum

Located 47 light-years from our solar system, Enaiposha is believed to have a thick atmosphere composed of hydrogen, helium, water vapor, methane, and carbon dioxide.

After detecting traces of gases across the planet's spectrum, two astronomers, Everett Schlawin and Kazumasa Ohno, led the study "Possible Carbon Dioxide above the Thick Aerosols of GJ 1214 b", now published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

As Parker Solar Probe flew by Venus in February 2021, its WISPR instrument captured these images, strung into a video, showing the nightside surface of the planet. Image: NASA

What makes Enaiposha different?

As per reports, although exoplanets like GJ 1214 b, also known as sub-Neptunes, are common far away from our solar system with thick and gaseous atmospheres, Enaiposha turned the heads of astronomers because of its unique presence of hazes and aerosols, which makes spectroscopic analysis incredibly challenging.

Published March 28th 2025, 08:40 IST