Indian astronomers discover an exoplanet 1.4 times larger than Jupiter but less dense

Posted: Nov 17, 2021 21:27 GMT

The celestial body is 725 light years from Earth, but only 0.05 astronomical units from its host star.

A team of Indian scientists has detected an exoplanet orbiting an old star with a mass of 1.5 suns 725 light years from Earth. This previously unknown celestial body is about 1.4 times larger than Jupiter, but has a mass of 70%, well below that of the largest planet in the solar system.

The mother star of the new planet is known as HD 82139 according to the Henry Draper catalog or TOI 1789 according to NASA’s TESS catalog. Therefore, the planet that orbits around it must be referred to as HD 82139b or TOI 1789b according to international nomenclature.

The discovery was made possible with the help of the Mount Abu Infrared Observatory telescope in northwestern India and a fiber-optic-powered spectrograph, the first of its kind in the country, The Hindustan Times reported. This equipment allowed astronomers at the Ahmedabad-based Physical Research Laboratory to make exact measurements between December 2020 and March 2021.

That star-planet system is very unique, according to the team’s estimates, since the newly discovered ‘jupiter’ complete the loop around your host star in just 3.2 days; In other words, in this ultra-hot world, where the surface temperature could reach up to 2,000 K, a year lasts less than three and a half days.

Furthermore, this orbital period corresponds to a distance of only 0.05 astronomical units, roughly equivalent to one-tenth of the distance between the Sun and Mercury. Scientists know less than a dozen such dense systems. Indian researchers also point out that the close proximity between the planet and its star is responsible for the object having an “inflated radius”, that is to say, a low internal density, of about 0.31 grams per cubic centimeter, compared to 5.5 of the Earth.

“Detection of such a system improves our understanding of various mechanisms responsible for inflation in hot Jupiters and the formation and evolution of planetary systems around evolving and aging stars,” they commented at the Indian Agency for Space Research.

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