The star in question appears to have a very large exoplanet. It is one of the few exoplanets directly observed to date. But that might change now.
Meanwhile, astronomers have tracked more than 5,000 exoplanets. However, most of them were not filmed live. Researchers usually rely on indirect methods, and infer the existence of a planet outside the solar system by looking at its parent star, hoping to witness a momentary dips in the star’s brightness. The Gaia space telescope can change this. Because thanks to this satellite, researchers discovered a “wobbler” star, after which the researchers saw a truly gigantic exoplanet appearing before their eyes.
(indirectly
As mentioned, there are two ways astronomers look for exoplanets: directly and indirectly. Historically, most exoplanets have been discovered using indirect methods. Direct means the telescope actually sees the planet. Currently, of the thousands of exoplanets we know of, only twenty have been directly imaged. It is not surprising that there are few of them. It is very difficult to see exoplanets with existing telescopes. To get a good picture of them, exoplanets would have to be farther from their parent star and also much larger than Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system. Unfortunately, the universe didn’t make these many planets.
the rocking star
But maybe Gaia is making direct observations of exoplanets a little easier now. With these telescopes, astronomers have scanned the night sky, looking for stars that wobble across the sky. When a planet orbits a star, the star oscillates back and forth, increasing or decreasing its relative speed relative to Earth. So a wobbly star can betray the existence of a planet.
After a thorough study of the data collected, researchers have found a number of promising wavy stars, which may be home to giant planets. Then they headed for the Subaru Telescope located on the Island of Hawaii. And not long after, they discovered a massive exoplanet orbiting the star HIP 99770.
pinggul 99770b
The newly discovered exoplanet is named HIP 99770 b and is more than sixteen times the mass of Jupiter, the researchers wrote in the journal. Knowledge. An exoplanet orbits a star about twice the mass of our sun. Although the planet’s orbit is more than three times that of Jupiter around the Sun, it receives roughly the same amount of light as Jupiter because its parent star is much brighter than ours.
Differentiate
With this discovery, researchers have shown that with the help of Gaia, it is possible to image exoplanets directly in a much easier way. This is an important step forward. In addition, the discovery of HIP 99770 b also has broader implications. “This shows not only how we can detect more exoplanets, but also how we can better characterize them,” said Thain Currie, co-author of the study. This is because direct and indirect detection methods provide different information about the planet. Using direct methods, astronomers can accurately determine the temperature and composition of planets. Whereas the indirect method provides accurate measurements of mass and orbit, especially when combined with measurements of the planet’s position through direct observation.
Follow-up study
In short, the combination of the Gaia data with the observations from the Subaru Telescope gives astronomers the best of both worlds. And this is just the beginning. Now that astronomers know the planet is both there and visible, other telescopes can take the task of analyzing light even further. Curie believes that “the discovery of this planet will lead to dozens of further studies.”
In addition, many discoveries are likely to come. HIP 99770 was one of the first stars studied. Currie and his team are currently analyzing data from about 50 other stars. And what they’ve seen so far suggests that the discovery of a hitherto unknown exoplanet is in the works.
