images

Exoplanet PSR B1620-26 b - Methuselah

by

Ron Miller/Novapix

Reference

a-exo99-65001

Date

2017-01-07

PSR B1620-26 b is an extrasolar planet located approximately 12,400 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Scorpius. It bears the unofficial nickname "Methuselah" due to its extreme age. The planet is in a circumbinary orbit around a pulsar (PSR B1620-26) and a white dwarf (WD B1620-26)) and is the first circumbinary planet ever confirmed. It is also the first planet found in a globular cluster. The planet is one of the oldest known extrasolar planets, believed to be about 12.7 billion years old.