Exoplanets: Researchers discover four completely new planets

Status: 07:25 AM| Reading time: 3 minutes

DrMost people probably imagine the infinite expanse of space as depicted in the “Star Wars” movies. However, they are actually much more mysterious – astronomers have only been able to study a fraction of them. So there are still many surprises lurking in space – and now researchers have discovered four of them from Switzerland with the help of the NASA and European Space Agency telescopes.

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To be more precise, they found four exoplanets, which astronomers called “mini-Neptunes”. They are smaller and cooler than the easier to spot so-called “hot Jupiters,” another form of exoplanet. However, the four celestial bodies with names are not entirely attractive HD 22946DAnd Hip 9618CAnd HD 15906C And TOI-5678B There is nothing in common with the stars in our solar system – and this baffles scientists.

They published the results of their research in two specialized journals.Astronomy and astrophysics” Beside “Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society“.

Four new exoplanets—but researchers know little

Astronomers hope to learn more about planetary evolution from the so-called mini-Neptune. “We don’t know exactly what it was made of or how it formed,” says Amy Towson, one of the UK’s discoverers. Cambridge University in one Twitter videos. The four newly discovered exoplanets orbit four different stars in periods ranging from 21 to 53 days.

Astronomers have been able to prove their existence using the TESS and Cheops space telescopes.

Unlike super-Earths, which are larger than our home planet but appear to have similar living conditions, mini-Neptune is larger than our blue planet but smaller than the planet Neptune in our solar system. However, tiny Neptune is two to four times the size of Earth.

Various computational models allow astronomers to paint a fairly accurate picture based on the planet’s size and density. Then they know, for example, what material their core is made of, how the atmosphere is organized and what the temperatures are. However, this is not the case with the Mini Neptune.

Solin Ulmer Moll, researcher at University of Geneva In Switzerland, in one press release from Bern University. If small Neptunes had water, then in theory life would be possible there. So are we on aliens?

Somewhere in the Universe: Could Little Neptune Support Life?

This is supported by the relatively long orbital period of the four outer planets. 21 to 53 days is short compared to 365 days on Earth. However, if you compare the newly discovered four small Neptunes with other exoplanets, their orbital period is very long. This means that they are very far from the star they orbit. Because of their greater distance, they have cooler temperatures. Therefore, some of the researchers involved in the finds suspect that they may be habitable.

The four celestial bodies that have now been discovered join the staggering number of 5,438 exoplanets confirmed to date. This is what the planets in the universe that revolve around another star outside the Earth’s solar system are called. However, since there are billions of galaxies in the entire universe, and therefore trillions of stars, there are likely to be many more exoplanets. So the universe is still full of more mysteries!

Researchers are trying to uncover some of them. You can find out about the projects I started for this here:

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