Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
This video zooms in on Cha 1107-7626, located about 620 light-years away in the constellation Chamaeleon. This rogue planet is 5-10 times more massive than Jupiter and doesn’t orbit a star.
The video combines images taken with different telescopes at different times and various wavelengths. It begins with a wide view of the night sky in visible light. As we zoom in, we switch to an infrared view taken with ESO’s Visible and Infrared Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA). Finally, we show an artist’s animation of the planet, which is eating up gas and dust from a disc around it. Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have found this is now happening at a rate of about 6 billion tonnes per second.
For more details, check: eso.org/public/news/eso2516
This video is available for download in various formats on eso.org/public/videos/eso2516b
Credits: ESO/L. Calçada, M. Kornmesser/N. Risinger (skysurvey.org)/Digitized Sky Survey 2/Meingast et al. Music: Azul Cobalto
This video zooms in on Cha 1107-7626, located about 620 light-years away in the constellation Chamaeleon. This rogue planet is 5-10 times more massive than Jupiter and doesn’t orbit a star.
The video combines images taken with different telescopes at different times and various wavelengths. It begins with a wide view of the night sky in visible light. As we zoom in, we switch to an infrared view taken with ESO’s Visible and Infrared Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA). Finally, we show an artist’s animation of the planet, which is eating up gas and dust from a disc around it. Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have found this is now happening at a rate of about 6 billion tonnes per second.
For more details, check: eso.org/public/news/eso2516
This video is available for download in various formats on eso.org/public/videos/eso2516b
Credits: ESO/L. Calçada, M. Kornmesser/N. Risinger (skysurvey.org)/Digitized Sky Survey 2/Meingast et al. Music: Azul Cobalto
