Scientists have managed to measure both the size and orbit of a gas giant exoplanet nearly 1300 light-years from Earth. Name GOT ‘EM-1b, which stands for Giant Outer Transiting Exoplanet Mass, and the planet is about five times the mass of Jupiter.
Scientists usually struggle to measure the size of giant gas planets, such as Jupiter and Saturn, because they are far away from the stars orbiting them. Yet this planet appeared in what scientists call our “solar neighborhood” in 2010, when NASA’s Kepler space telescope first discovered the object. Astronomers then noticed that the brightness of a nearby star, called Kepler-1514, decreased periodically, which determined the researchers about the possibility of orbiting planets.
The research team at the University of California, Riverside, has discovered that the planet, officially named Kepler-1514b after its parent star, has an extraordinarily long orbit of 218 days. “Orbiting a star for 218 days is an order of magnitude longer than most of the giant exoplanets we have measured,” said Paul Dalba, the astronomer who led the research, in a statement from UC Riverside. was provided to Space.com. Of the thousands of planets Kepler discovered, only a few dozen orbits of 200 days or longer had.
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It is possible that we can learn more about GOT ‘EM-1b and giant planets about the solar system. “This planet is like a stepping stone between the giant planets of our own solar system, which are very far from our sun, and other gas giants that are much closer to their stars,” Dalba said.
The discovery of a giant planet that has not moved closer to its star over time will serve as an analogue of the gas giants in our solar system and tell us how normal our solar system is in its stability and evolution. Astronomers believe that Jupiter can protect the Earth from other objects in space that could otherwise affect our planet, giving us ‘blue marble’ relative stability.
Unfortunately, it is difficult to find analogues for Jupiter and Saturn, so scientists are excited to learn more about GOT ‘EM-1b.
Dalba and his team presented their research at the 237th meeting of the American Astronomical Society and outlined their discovery in a paper accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal.
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