# @europeanspaceagency on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DLdc7XaNNhw
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/35582089-europeanspaceagency-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/72e63355dd.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-06-28T21:50:00.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** J.L.Lopez (@xandler80) — https://gondola.cc/xandler80

## Caption

Meet one of the coldest exoplanets ever observed 🔭

This image from esawebb shows 14 Herculis c, a planet orbiting a star about 60 light-years away. Captured using Webb’s coronagraph, the faint orange glow near the dark centre is the planet itself.

The black circle marks where the coronagraph has blocked the light of the host star, making it easier to detect the much dimmer planet nearby. A star symbol shows where the host star, 14 Herculis, is located.

Webb’s data reveals that 14 Herculis c is surprisingly chilly — about -3°C — making it one of the coldest exoplanets ever directly imaged. The planet orbits roughly 2.25 billion kilometres from its star in a stretched, elliptical path.

Even more intriguing, it’s much dimmer than scientists expected. For a planet with about seven times the mass of Jupiter and an age of around 4 billion years, this suggests complex atmospheric dynamics. Molecules formed in warmer layers may be getting pulled rapidly into colder regions, changing the way the planet emits infrared light.

Each new discovery like this helps us understand the strange and diverse worlds beyond our Solar System.

What would you name a planet like this?

📸 NASA, europeanspaceagency , canadianspaceagency , space_telescopes , W. Balmer (johnshopkinsu), D. Bardalez Gagliuffi (amherstcollege); creativecommons BY 4.0

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- **Likes:** 4,174
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## Credits

These are the roles credited on Gondola. Credits may be incomplete.
A brand, account owner, or featured person is not necessarily the creator.

| Name | Username | Profile | Role |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| ESA - European Space Agency | @europeanspaceagency | https://gondola.cc/europeanspaceagency | Government Organization |
| J.L.Lopez | @xandler80 | https://gondola.cc/xandler80 | Producer |
| J.L.Lopez | @xandler80 | https://gondola.cc/xandler80 | Editor |
| J.L.Lopez | @xandler80 | https://gondola.cc/xandler80 | Social Media Manager |
| J.L.Lopez | @xandler80 | https://gondola.cc/xandler80 | Publisher |
| J.L.Lopez | @xandler80 | https://gondola.cc/xandler80 | Copywriter |
| J.L.Lopez | @xandler80 | https://gondola.cc/xandler80 | Community Manager |

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