Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – An exoplanet has just been discovered by researchers. The planet, several times the size of Jupiter, is said to be able to answer questions about its early formation.
Planet 2M0437b is younger than the planets in this solar system which formed about 4.5 billion years ago. The researchers note the planet may have been as hot as lava due to the energy released during its formation.
The team of scientists discovered 2M0437b using the Subaru Telescope, Hawaii’s Mauna Kea. The telescope managed to capture an image of the planet glowing from the reflection of the star, quoted by Space, Thursday (10/28/2021).
“This chance discovery adds to the elite list of planets that we observe directly with our telescopes,” said Eric Gaidos, lead author of the study.
“By analyzing the light from the planet, we can say something about its composition and perhaps where and how it formed in the long-lost disk of gas and dust around its host star.”
This planet is also quite special. Because the distance is quite close and can be observed directly, unlike other planets.
Actually 2M0437b has been discovered since 2018. Namely by visiting researcher at the University of Hawaii for Astronomy, Teruyuki Hirano, who is a co-author of this study.
At that time a near-infrared camera at the Keck Observatory showed the planet orbiting its parent star. It is estimated that the distance is about 100 astronomical units, as one unit of information is the same as the average distance between the Earth and the Sun, which is 150 million kilometers.
But it wasn’t until three years later that researchers confirmed Subaru’s observations. Because the parent star moves very slowly from the Earth’s sky.
Research on this new planet does not seem to stop. Because it is expected to get more information on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.
The telescope is scheduled to launch on December 18, 2021. It is hoped that there will be a lot of information about 2M0437b such as the gases contained in the atmosphere and the disk around it that may have formed the moon.
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