The researchers used a breakthrough combination of indirect and direct planet detection to find the distant world, known as HIP 99770 b/illustration.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — Astronomers have discovered planet extrasolar or planets outside the new solar system. However, how they found it may be as important as the discovery itself.
The researchers used a breakthrough combination of indirect and direct planetary detection to find the distant world, known as HIP 99770 b. The combination could get us closer to finding Earth-like exoplanets among distant neighboring stars.
Direct imaging is what most casual observers expect to be the essence of exoplanet hunting, namely using powerful telescopes with advanced optics to capture images of distant planetary bodies. However, direct imaging is most effective for planets orbiting far from their star; exoplanets closer to their sun are usually obscured by the bright light of their star, making them difficult to detect or image. That is, when they are farther away, there is greater contrast between the lights extrasolar planet and stars.
Meanwhile, indirect imaging (precision astrometry) looks for stars that appear to be “wiggling,” meaning their gravity may be affected by an exoplanet (if it’s not visible to us). This method can more easily detect the presence of planets orbiting closer to their stars, such as Earth’s relationship to the Sun. As a result, indirect imaging has resulted in more than 5,000 exoplanet discoveries, while direct imaging has captured only about 20.
Reported EngadgetMonday (17/4/2023), an international team of researchers, led by Thayne Currie of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) and the University of Texas at San Antonio, combined these two methods to find the new exoplanet.
First, they used data from the Hipparcos-Gaia Catalog of Accelerations (a map that tracks the precise positions and motions of nearly two million stars in the Milky Way) to identify the star HIP 99770 as a prime candidate to host an exoplanet. Then, they used Japan’s very powerful Subaru telescope (on Mauna Kea, Hawaii) to directly image it exoplanet newly discovered creative title HIP 99770 b.
Have you switched to an electric motorbike? What Brands Are Perched in Your Garage?
