Hops.ID – The United States Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) revealed the cause behind the mysterious phenomenon of the disappearance of several exoplanets, using the inactive Kepler telescope in its observation mission.
According to NASA scientists, some exoplanets between the Super-Earth and Sub-Neptune categories are losing their atmospheres and shrinking, a phenomenon caused by the push of the exoplanet’s core pushing the atmosphere from the inside out.
Exoplanets are planets outside the Milky Way solar system, varying in size. Starting from small ones with rocky surfaces, to giants with gaseous atmospheres.
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However, new research has found striking size differences, especially between the Super-Earth and Sub-Neptune categories.
Scientists say that this significant difference in size is caused by the loss of atmosphere on some Sub-Neptunes over time.
Loss of atmosphere occurs when a planet does not have enough mass, causing Sub-Neptune to shrink to the size of a Super-Earth, and this phenomenon leaves a difference in size between the two types of planet.
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Jessie Christiansen, a scientist at Caltech/IPAC and lead author of the research published in the Astronomical Journal, revealed that the number of planets discovered was much smaller than previously thought, ranging from 1.5 to 2 times the size of Earth.
Christiansen’s research team used data from NASA’s K2 mission to observe the Praesepe and Hyades star clusters, and their results concluded that photoevaporation was not the likely cause of the planet’s shrinkage.
Photoevaporation itself is a process in which the atmosphere or material of an object, such as a planet or celestial body, evaporates due to radiation from a star or other light source.
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Furthermore, the research team found that all the observed stars still have Sub-Neptune planets, and they believe that the mechanism generated by the planet’s core is the possible cause of the loss of atmosphere on less massive Sub-Neptunes over time.
This research illustrates that relatively young stars, around 600-800 million years old, can experience planetary shrinkage due to mass loss caused by nuclear energy, not evaporation processes.
2023-11-19 02:34:00
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