Newly discovered super-hot Neptune orbits so close to its star that its year lasts only 19
Although the discovered world weighs twice as much asNeptune, it is also slightly larger than it and has the same density. Therefore, LTT 9779b should have a huge core with a mass of about 28 Earth masses and an atmosphere that makes up about 9% of the total mass of the planet.
The system itself is about half the age of the Sun, it is 2billion years, and given the intense radiation exposure, a planet like Neptune cannot be expected to maintain its atmosphere for so long as to solve the intriguing mystery of how such an incredible system came about.
LTT 9779 is a Sun-like starlocated at a distance of 260 light years from us. In an astronomical sense, it is literally “at hand”. The planet is very rich in metals, its atmosphere contains twice as much iron as the Sun. This may be a key indicator that superhot Neptune was originally a much larger gas giant, as these bodies predominantly form near the stars with the highest iron abundance.
The first indications of the existence of the planet weremade by the Transiting Exoplanet Research Satellite (TESS) as part of its mission to detect small transiting planets. In early November 2018, the transit signal was quickly confirmed as coming from a planetary body using observations made with the High Accuracy Radial-Speed Planet Searcher (HARPS) instrument mounted on the 3.6m telescope at ESO la Silla observatory in the north. Chile. HARPS uses Doppler wobble to measure planetary masses and orbital characteristics such as orbital periods. When objects are detected to be moving, Doppler measurements can be organized to effectively confirm planetary nature. In the case of LTT 9779b, the team was able to confirm the existence of the planet after just one week of observations.
Discovery of LTT 9779b at such an early stageThe TESS mission was a complete surprise; a gamble that paid off. LTT 9779b is a rare beast indeed, existing in a sparsely populated region of planetary space parameters. The planet exists in what is known as the Neptune Desert, a region devoid of planets.
Professor James Jenkins from the Department of Astronomy of the University of Chile
The planet does have significantatmosphere, and it orbits a relatively bright star. This means that future studies of the planet's atmosphere may reveal some mysteries related to how such planets form, how they evolve and what they are. The planet is very hot, which motivates the search for elements heavier than hydrogen and helium, as well as ionized atomic nuclei. This "incredible planet", according to scientists, is so rare that the chances of finding one like this are slim. This makes studying it all the more important.
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