Jakarta –
The era of hunting for planetary objects in space enters a new phase with the Subaru Telescope in Hawai’i. With a more sophisticated system, astronomers succeeded in identifying giant planets through a study published in The Astronomical Journal on December 3, 2025.
This finding is the result of the success of the first OASIS (Observing Accelerators with SCExAO Imaging Survey) project. The project combines space observation data and Subaru’s advanced imaging systems, to detect hard-to-see sky objects.
Giant Planet that Appears Close to Earth
One of the newly discovered discoveries is a planet known as HIP 54515 b. The planet orbits a star located 271 light years away in the constellation Leo.
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Astronomers estimate the planet HIP 54515 b has a mass nearly 18 times that of Jupiter and orbits its star at a distance similar to Neptune in our solar system.
According to astronomers, the distance between the new planet and its star from Earth appears close. The distance is comparable to seeing a baseball from 100 km away.
“Thanks to the precision of the SCExAO system, astronomers were able to observe the planet clearly despite these challenges,” said the astronomers, quoted by Science Daily.
How Does OASIS Find Hidden Objects?
The OASIS project is led by Thayne Currie and Masayuki Kuzuhara, who focuses on how to overcome this challenge by narrowing down the most feasible targets. The survey analyzes data from two European Space Agency missions – Hipparcos and Gaia. The mission is a small movement of the star, caused by the gravity of an invisible companion object.
If a star shows signs of tugging or wobbling, that’s when OASIS directs the Subaru Telescope to the target. The astronomers used the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics (SCExAO) system. A system that works to capture images with very high resolution, and photograph hidden objects directly.
Meanwhile, NASA’s Roman Space Telescope is scheduled to study the planet HIP 71618 b. Roman’s advanced coronograph system will be tested for future missions aimed at directly photographing Earth-like planets around other stars.
The success of the OASIS shows that the Subaru Telescope will continue to play a major role in astronomical discovery, even as a new generation of advanced telescopes enters service.
The author is an intern at the Ministry of Manpower Hub at detikcom.
(sls/do)
