Jakarta –
Tim astronomer European space agency (ESA) discovered a unique planet. The shape is not round like planet in general, but an irregular square that resembles a potato.
“This planet, called WASP-103b, is the first planet to be found to have a ‘flawed’ shape that looks more like a rugby ball than a sphere,” the ESA said, quoted by the Washington Examiner.
Located in the constellation Hercules, researchers say tidal forces planet The powerful force, caused by the close proximity of the parent star, bends it out of its traditional spherical shape.
Although first discovered in 2014, recent observations via ESA’s Cheops telescope mission to study planets outside the Solar System, confirmed their squashed-like shape.
“It’s remarkable that Cheops was actually able to reveal this tiny deformation,” said Jacques Laskar of the Paris Observatory, who co-authored the study.
“This is the first time such an analysis has been carried out, and we hope that observations over a longer time interval will strengthen these observations, and lead to better knowledge of the internal structure planet,” he continued.
Astronomers used the Cheops telescope to see how the star dimmed as WASP-103b passed in front of it, and measured how faint it was.
These calculations ultimately revealed the planet’s shape is like a potato and nearly twice that of Jupiter’s. The planet orbits its parent star in less than one Earth day.
“The resistance of a material to deform depends on its composition. For example, here on Earth, we have tides due to the Moon and the Sun, but we can only see the tides in the oceans. The rocky parts don’t move much. By measuring how much deformation is planet This way, we can tell how much of the planet is rocky, gaseous, or water,” said Susana Barros, lead author of the study.
Researchers aim to learn more about the planet with NASA’s new James Webb telescope that launched this month.
Watch Videos “Is it true that there are aliens on 3 neighboring planets of Earth?“
[Gambas:Video 20detik]
(rns/rns)
– .
