Astronomers Discover New planet named Enaiposha

 Astronomers discover New planet named Enaiposha is unlike anything in our solar system                

It started as another exoplanet in a group labeled “ordinary.” No one expected that a world, once thought to be a mini-Neptune, would reveal traits of a super-Venus and change how we see certain planetary types. Astronomers have discovered Enaiposha, a mysterious exoplanet 47 light-years away which challenges everything we thought we knew about planetary classification. For decades, astronomers have classified exoplanets into neat categories: rocky Earth-like planets, gas giants like Jupiter, and mini-Neptunes, small gas-rich worlds thought to be abundant in the Milky Way. But a recent discovery has shaken up these classifications. Enaiposha (GJ 1214 b), a planet located 47 light-years away, was once believed to be a typical mini-Neptune, but new observations using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have revealed something far stranger. Rather than fitting neatly into the existing planetary types, Enaiposha appears to be something entirely different, a “super-Venus” with a thick, haze-filled atmosphere composed of hydrogen, helium, water, methane and carbon dioxide.

The study, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, suggests that this enigmatic world may be a missing link in our understanding of planetary evolution, offering a glimpse into how some exoplanets transition between different atmospheric states. Its dense haze, metal-rich air and unique chemical composition raise new questions about how planets form, evolve and retain their atmospheres over time. Astronomers used JWST data to learn more about an unusual place called Enaiposha, which orbits a red dwarf star about 47 light-years away from the Sun. Enaiposha, that also goes by the identifier GJ 1214 b, was first placed in a category that normally describes small, gas-rich worlds. New observations, however, suggest that it is more like Venus but on a bigger scale. Researchers propose calling it a super-venus because it appears to have a thick atmosphere composed of hydrogen, helium, water, methane and carbon dioxide. This finding came from recent measurements which showed faint traces of molecules at key parts of the spectrum.

At first glance, Enaiposha seemed like just another sub-Neptune, a class of planets smaller than Neptune but larger than Earth. These worlds are among the most common types of exoplanets in the Milky Way, yet none exist in our own solar system. When JWST turned its powerful infrared instruments toward Enaiposha, however, scientists were in for a surprise: rather than a traditional gas-rich sub-Neptune, they found a thick, hot, and hazy world with atmospheric characteristics more similar to Venus than Neptune. Sub-Neptune planets that are smaller than Neptune in size are the most common type of planet known to exist in the Milky Way, but they are absent from the solar system. They have atmospheres which consist of a variety of gases and atmospheric spectroscopy is used to analyse what gases are present. Enaiposha differs from a typical sub-Neptune in that its upper layers are blanketed by haze and aerosols. This makes it very difficult to analyse the atmosphere spectroscopic ally to establish which gases form the atmosphere on the exoplanet.

Researchers detected traces of carbon dioxide, water vapour and complex metal-rich molecules in the planet’s atmosphere, suggesting that its chemical composition is more diverse than previously expected. The discovery is significant because it means that not all mini-Neptune's are the same, some may shed their thick hydrogen atmospheres over time, evolving into something completely different. Venus also has clouds which block most views of its surface, but Enaiposha takes this phenomenon further. It is bigger, hotter and enveloped by layers that make it especially hard to examine. When Enaiposha crossed between its star and Earth, tiny dips occurred at points on the spectrograph where certain gases absorb starlight. The data hinted at a metal-rich atmosphere with less hydrogen floating around than scientists had expected. “The detected CO₂ signal from the first study is tiny, and so it required careful statistical analysis to ensure that it is real,” noted Kazumasa Ohno, the team member leading the theoretical investigations. This finding suggests that Enaiposha’s atmosphere may be more evolved than previously believed, potentially representing a transition stage between gas-rich planets and rocky super-Earths. One portion of the team’s work pointed that water vapour was present in the atmosphere, but that alone was not the big story. Small signs of complex metals emerged, which is odd for a planet once categorized in a simpler way. Furthermore, as starlight passed through Enaiposha’s outer layers (atmosphere), certain wavelengths of light were also absorbed which indicated the signatures of carbon dioxide and methane.

One of the most puzzling features of Enaiposha is its dense, impenetrable haze. Scientists using JWST’s transmission spectroscopy, a method of analysing starlight passing through a planet’s atmosphere, found that the upper layers of Enaiposha’s atmosphere are thick with aerosols and complex molecules, making it extremely difficult to determine what lies beneath. The study was led by astronomers Everett Schlawin from the University of Arizona and Kazumasa Ohno from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). The scientists got a faint clue that CO2 may exist in concentrations akin to those found on Venus. They saw how light changed as it went through Enaiposha’s thick skies. “The detected CO2 signal from the first study is tiny, and so it required careful statistical analysis to ensure that it is real,” noted Ohno, the team member leading the theoretical investigations. Experts sometimes place planets slightly bigger than Earth in the super-earth bracket. Those even larger but still under Neptune’s mass sit in the mini-Neptune group. This planet seems to occupy a weird middle zone. The findings have driven some scientists to propose that Enaiposha represents a new sub-type of exoplanet, or at least a neat twist on the usual groupings.

Unlike traditional mini-Neptune's, which are expected to have relatively clear atmospheres, Enaiposha’s sky appears dense and heavily clouded, potentially affecting how heat is trapped and distributed. This extreme haze and cloud cover may indicate on-going atmospheric processes, such as volcanism or chemical reactions that are yet to be fully understood. Research on Enaiposha, a super-Venus, is still tough because of the haze. Observations pick up only subtle signals from deeper parts of its atmosphere. A single measurement can be overwhelmed by the star’s brightness. Multiple follow-up sessions and new instruments may be needed to confirm all of these ingredients. Astronomers have found thousands of strange worlds. This one stands out for defying what was presumed normal in the mini-Neptune category of exoplanets. Some wonder whether similar planets hide in other star systems. It may be risky to assume that everything beyond our Sun fits neatly into known boxes. The presence of both CO2 and methane is particularly intriguing. In Earth’s atmosphere, these gases are often linked to biological and geological activity. While Enaiposha is far too hot to support life as we know it, studying how these gases behave in extreme planetary environments could provide insights into how atmospheres evolve on other worlds, including potentially habitable exoplanets. One encouraging aspect is how these methods might apply to places which could harbour life. Enaiposha is scorching, so it is not a promising location for habitability. Still, the process of analysing its hazes and thick skies could help scientists interpret atmospheres around other exoplanets in less extreme locations. That matters for anyone seeking to detect breathable air anywhere beyond our own system.

The chemical composition of Enaiposha’s atmosphere raises a crucial question: Is this planet a permanent super-Venus, or is it in the process of transforming into something else? Some planetary models suggest that sub-Neptunes may gradually lose their hydrogen-rich envelopes over time, leaving behind rocky cores which resemble super-Earths or Venus-like worlds. If this is the case, then Enaiposha may represent an intermediate stage in planetary evolution, offering valuable clues about how planets evolve over billions of years. Some want to see whether metals in Enaiposha’s air, as a super-Venus, can form droplets or complex clouds. That might explain why so little light passes through its atmosphere.  Others suspect it could be a stepping stone for modelling how thick atmospheres evolve. It might also show that sub-Neptune's can morph into something else with time. One possibility is that Enaiposha was once more Neptune-like but has undergone atmospheric stripping, a process where a planet’s outer layers are gradually blown away by intense stellar radiation. This could explain why it has less hydrogen and helium than expected, while retaining heavier molecules like CO2 and methane. In future, further modelling of the planet’s atmosphere, interior structure and origins will provide valuable insights about how sub-Neptune's like GJ 1214 b form and evolve. If true, this would mean that planets similar to Enaiposha might be more common than we realize, hidden among the thousands of known exoplanets. The ability to detect and study these transitional worlds could offer new insights into how planets form, how they retain or lose their atmospheres, and what conditions might make a planet habitable in the future.