A group of scientists from the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in Ahmedabad, India has found a scorching new exoplanet where one year lasts for a few days, as per the Indian Space Research Organization.
The team led by Prof. Abhijit Chakraborty of PRL found the planet orbiting a star that is almost 1.5 times the mass of our Sun and is 725 light-years away from Earth.“This discovery is made using PRL Advanced Radial-velocity Abu-sky Search (PARAS) optical fiber-fed spectrograph, the first of its kind in India, on the 1.2-meter Telescope of PRL at its Mt. Abu Observatory,” ISRO writes.
Planet bigger than Jupiter but closer to its star
“These measurements were carried out between December 2020 and March 2021. Further follow-up measurements were also obtained from TCES spectrograph from Germany in April 2021, and also independent photometric observations from the PRL’s 43-centimeter telescope at Mt. Abu.”
The planet named TOI 1789b or HD 82139b, is around 1.4 times the size of Jupiter, and around 70% of its mass. The planet also orbits its host star in just 3.2 days, which means it is extremely close to its star – at a distance of just 0.05 times the distance between our planet and the Sun. It makes it a type of planet called a hot Jupiter.
Observing hot Jupiters important for further research
As the planet orbits so close to its star, it experiences extremely high temperatures of up to 1727 Celsius, which is hot enough to melt iron. Besides, the planet is inflated, which makes it very low density, so it’s puffy and larger than Jupiter even though it has less mass.
Observing hot Jupiters can enable astronomers to learn how planetary systems form and evolve, as they give rise to questions about how planets could have reached so close to their host stars. The Indian space agency scientists will further study this new exoplanet.
“The detection of such system enhances our understanding of various mechanisms responsible for inflation in hot Jupiters and the formation and evolution of planetary systems around evolving and aging stars,” the ISRO wrote.
