Search Earth-Like Planets: High-Light and High-Speed ​​Exoplanet Discovered – Knowledge

At the end of an average earthly work day, another year is already over – every evening is New Year’s Eve! At just eight hours a year on the extraterrestrial planet GJ 367 b, 31 light-years from Earth, the relatively small and lightest planet, the red dwarf GJ 367, the parent star, orbits one-third of Earth. Day. This star is in the Vela galaxy in the Southern Hemisphere, so it is not visible from the Northern Hemisphere.

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In our solar system, Mercury’s speed is only 88 days to orbit the Sun, but it’s also a snail compared to GJ 367 b. The celestial body is one of the lightest of the approximately 5000 extrasolar planets in our galaxy: it is ultra-light and fast, distinguishing it from other previously known outer planets.

At half the mass of Earth, it is one of the lightest of distant planets – and at about 9,000 kilometers in diameter it is slightly larger than Mars.

A team of 78 researchers is involved

An international team of 78 researchers with the help of the Tess Space Telescope discovered the planet in 2019. At ESO’s European Southern Observatory in Chile, researchers have now succeeded in measuring a small, high – speed machine with unprecedented accuracy – and by classifying its interior.

The research team was led by Christine WF Lam and Sillard Sismadia. Institute for Planetary Research Of the German Space Center (DLR) in Berlin-Adlershop. Your results Published Thursday in “Science” magazine.

The research team has a special record in being able to measure the radius and mass of a high speed machine with high accuracy. It provides important information about its nature, which will lead astronomers to search for a second Earth.

Definitely a rocky planet

“From an accurate determination of radius and mass, GJ 367 b can be definitively classified as a rocky planet,” explains Christine Lam. In terms of size and composition, it reminds Mercury researchers that it is one of the terrestrial planets, i.e. celestial bodies like Earth.

According to researchers, the low-mass rocky planet is much denser than Earth. “High density refers to the iron nucleus,” explains Ssilard Sismadia. In this capacity, too, it resembles Mercury, which differs from other terrestrial bodies in our solar system in its proportions of iron and nickel.

GJ 367 b belongs to the “Ultra-Short-Term-Planets” (USP) group, which orbits the Sun within 24 hours. “We already know some of them, but their origins are not yet known,” says Lam. “By accurately determining the basic properties, we have an insight into how the system was formed and created.”

Through a combination of meticulous studies and various estimation methods, astronomers have been able to determine the radius and mass most accurately, which is not certain for extraterrestrials: the radius is 72 percent of the Earth’s radius and 55 percent of the Earth’s mass.

The planet orbits its parent star closely

The small fastest race runs very close to its mother star. As a result, it is exposed to more radiation than Earth. The researchers estimate that the radiation is 500 times stronger.

As a result, the surface temperature on the side of the planet facing the star may range from 1,300 to 1,500 degrees Celsius. At such temperatures all rocks and metals melt. “GJ 367 b is definitely not ‘Second Earth'” is the conclusion of astronomers: inside.

Developed as part of the work DFG-Schwerpunktprogramm ஆராய Exploring the diversity of extrasolar planets“, Which was coordinated by Heik Rowyer from Berlin via TU Berlin and supports 51 research projects in Germany. There have already been several publications.