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By: Shree1news, 15 FEB 2021
Using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), astronomers have found a younger star referred to as TOI 451 with three planets revolving round it. The recently discovered mini solar system is positioned in the Eridanus constellation, which is part of the Pisces-Eridanus stream.
The star of this system is 400 light-years away from us and is just 120 million years old, which makes it a lot younger when in comparison with our Sun. The three hot planets orbiting it had been discovered whereas studying images taken by TESS between October and December 2018, according to a NASA statement.
The reason why astronomers are focused on exploring these planets is as a result of their size can help them understand how planetary atmosphere evolves, given the system is not that far off from Earth.
“This system checks a lot of boxes for astronomers. It’s only 120 million years old and just 400 light-years away, allowing detailed observations of this young planetary system. And because there are three planets between two and four times Earth’s size, they make especially promising targets for testing theories about how planetary atmospheres evolve,” Elisabeth Newton, Assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, who led the research said in a press statement.
According to NASA, the nearest planet to the star, named TOI 451 b, is simply 0.03 astronomical unit (AU) away and completes its orbit round in just 1.9 days. The planet is 1.9 times Earth’s size.
The second planet called TOI 451 c is thrice Earth’s size and completes its orbit in 9.2 days, whereas the third planet TOI 451 d is 4 times Earth’s size and has a 16-day orbit.
The temperatures on these planets range from 1,200 diploma celsius to 450 degree celsius making them inhospitable. The reason is that even TOI 451’s most distant planet orbits thrice nearer than Mercury ever approaches to the Sun, which results in the higher temperatures.
However, the sun of this solar system has 95 per cent of our Sun’s mass and is 12 per cent smaller in size. It also emits 35 per cent less power and is considerably faster than our Sun completing a rotation in just 5.1 days.
The study was published in the Astronomical Journal on January 14. All the findings had been made possible with the help of observations made by NASA’s now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope in 2018 and 2019 together with several ground-based facilities.
Source: A-N
