CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Astronomers have discovered a faint, elusive planet orbiting a young star after more than a decade of cosmic hide-and-seek.
In an unusual twist, two groups working independently detected the cold gas giant a few days apart late last year using different telescopes. It's the dimmest planet ever directly imaged from Earth, scientists reported Wednesday.
A Scottish and German-led team spied the new planet around the star Beta Pictoris using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile, then dug through archives to confirm its orbit. The planet had remained hidden in the data all this time, overshadowed by its considerably brighter star and two companion planets.
“It was very much playing hide-and-seek for 11 years,” said the European Southern Observatory’s Markus Bonse, co-leader of the first team.
The California-led team made the discovery with NASA’s Webb Space Telescope. Two observations were all it took with Webb, the biggest and most powerful telescope ever launched into space. Both teams reported their findings in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
The find was serendipitous. Each team was studying one of the star’s already identified planets when they spotted a less massive one — 100 times fainter — lurking farther out. They deliberately kept their work from one another so as not to bias the results.
The new planet is slightly bigger than Jupiter and takes 91 years to orbit its star, a little longer than it takes Uranus to orbit our sun. Born into a star system that’s barely 20 million years old — a kid compared to the sun's 4.5 billion-year-old neighborhood — the planet is probably similar to a much younger Jupiter, said the University of California San Diego’s Aidan Gibbs, who led the second team.
“The giant planets have formed, but smaller terrestrial planets could still be forming,” Gibbs said in an email. Beta Pictoris “is probably our best look at a planetary system just after it has formed and is still in the process of stabilizing” from hurtling asteroids and comets.
Beta Pictoris is located in the easel-shaped southern constellation Pictor, or painter, and 63 light-years from Earth. A light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles (more than 9 trillion kilometers).
Fewer than 100 of the more than 6,000 confirmed exoplanets — planets around other stars — have been detected through direct imaging, according to NASA. Most were found while passing in front of their star, briefly dimming it.
“We’ve now built a picture of this planet,” the University of Edinburgh's Ben Sutlieff said in an email, “and we are very excited to see what more can be learned about it.”
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
This image provided by the European Southern Observatory shows the Beta Pictoris region on March 6, 2014. (ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2 via AP)
SANDY, Utah--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 15, 2026--
Callegra Technologies, Inc. today announced the appointment of Reiley Snowden as Chief AI Architect. Snowden will lead the company's artificial intelligence architecture and engineering strategy, accelerating the development of secure, cloud-native, Edge AI, and intelligent software capabilities across Callegra’s existing products while enabling the creation of next-generation AI-powered platforms.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260716443177/en/
Snowden brings more than a decade of experience in software engineering, full-stack application development, cloud services, mobile platforms, blockchain technologies, augmented and virtual reality, and engineering leadership. Most recently, he served as Senior Software Engineer Team Lead at Domo, following engineering roles focused on Web3 and full-stack software development. His experience spans enterprise software, scalable backend services, mobile applications, and emerging technologies.
Reporting directly to President and Chief Operating Officer Duane Harris, Snowden will lead Callegra's AI architecture and engineering strategy. He will oversee development of the company's AI platform, including agentic AI capabilities, Edge AI initiatives, intelligent automation, and advanced cloud-native services that will be integrated across Callegra's portfolio of unified communications and secure collaboration solutions.
“Artificial intelligence is reshaping how organizations communicate, collaborate, and operate,” said Justin C. Reber, Chairman & CEO of Callegra Technologies.
“Reiley brings an exceptional combination of engineering leadership, full-stack software expertise, and a passion for emerging technologies that aligns perfectly with Callegra’s long-term vision. As we continue executing our cloud-native and AI-first strategy, Reiley will play a critical role in defining our next generation of intelligent communications solutions. He will help accelerate product innovation while ensuring we continue delivering the security, reliability, and compliance our government and enterprise customers expect.”
Snowden’s appointment represents another milestone in Callegra's strategic transformation from a leader in unified communications into an AI-first technology company building secure software platforms, enterprise collaboration, intelligent automation, and mission-critical cloud solutions for commercial and government organizations.
“I’m excited to join Callegra at such an important point in the company’s growth,” said Snowden.
“Artificial intelligence represents one of the most transformative technology shifts of our time, and Callegra is uniquely positioned to help organizations harness its potential. I look forward to working alongside our talented team to build secure, AI-powered platforms and intelligent software solutions that solve meaningful business challenges and create lasting value for our customers.”
About Callegra Technologies, Inc.
Callegra Technologies, Inc. is a leader in secure communications, cloud, and AI-enabled business solutions, helping organizations modernize the way they communicate, collaborate, and protect critical information. Through its portfolio of AI-powered applications, unified communications, intelligent messaging, call protection, collaboration, and secure cloud platforms, Callegra empowers enterprises, government agencies, healthcare organizations, and educational institutions to improve productivity, strengthen security, and accelerate digital transformation. Built for hybrid, cloud, edge, and on-premises environments, Callegra delivers scalable, reliable, and compliance-ready solutions for today’s mission-critical operations.
For more information, visit the Callegra website: https://callegra.com/
Callegra social media links:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/callegratechnologiesinc/
https://www.facebook.com/callegratechnologiesinc
https://www.instagram.com/callegratechnologies
Reiley Snowden has been appointed Chief AI Architect at Callegra Technologies, Inc., reporting to President & COO Duane Harris and leading the company’s AI-powered product strategy and innovation initiatives.
