Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
The research team from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory NASA and the University of New Mexico have reportedly discovered a new exoplanet or exoplanet that similar to Earth.
The planet is reported to have an Earth-like atmosphere. The Earth-like exoplent is called TOI-1231 b.
The planet was detected using photometric data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and followed up with observations using the Planet Finder Spectrograph (PFS) on the Magellan Clay telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile.
Launch Science Daily, TOI-1231 b is smaller than Neptune with an orbital period of 24 days. The exoplanet orbits a nearby M dwarf star.
M dwarfs, also known as red dwarfs, are the most common type of star in the Milky Way, making up about 70 percent of all stars in the galaxy.
“TOI-1231 b is very similar in size and density to Neptune, so we think it has a similarly large gaseous atmosphere,” said NASA JPL scientist and lead author Jennifer Burt.
UNM Department of Physics and Astronomy scientist Diana Dragomir said TOI 1231b is eight times closer to its star than Earth is to the Sun. Its temperature is also similar to that of Earth, due to its cooler and less bright parent star.
“However, the planet itself is actually bigger than Earth and slightly smaller than Neptune, we can call it sub-Neptune,” Dragomir said.
Launch UNM official website, the temperature of TOI-1231b is about 330 Kelvin or 140 degrees Fahrenheit. These conditions make TOI-1231b one of the coolest small exoplanets accessible for atmospheric studies found so far.
Previous research has suggested that such a cold planet may have clouds high in its atmosphere, which makes it difficult for researchers to determine what kind of gas surrounds it. However, the evidence for the presence of water in the atmosphere has surprised many astronomers.
“TOI-1231 b is the only other planet we know of in the same size and temperature range, so future observations of this new planet will allow us to determine how common (or infrequent) water clouds form there,” Burt said. .
Dragomir added that TOI 1231b is surrounded by a substantial atmosphere rather than being a rocky planet due to its low density. However, it does not yet know the composition and extent of the planet’s atmosphere.
“TOI1231b could have a large hydrogen or hydrogen-helium atmosphere, or a denser water vapor atmosphere,” Dragomir said.
(jps / eks)
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