The orbital period of the first exoplanet now continues to decrease,
REPUBLIC.CO.ID, WASHINGTON – For the first time, astronomers have spotted an extrasolar planet rotating towards its parent star. Eventually, this planet will be destroyed due to a cosmic collision.
Interestingly, that planet is a candidate exoplanet first discovered by Kepler telescope owned by the United States Space Agency (NASA). Currently NASA has found thousands of planets outside our solar system in almost a decade of searches.
The planet Kepler-165b has been identified for the first time Kepler data in 2009. However, it took a full decade of further analysis to officially confirm its existence. Now, this six-sized planet Jupiter may have less life than previously thought.
“We’ve already detected evidence of exoplanets inspiring their own stars, but we’ve never seen such planets around an evolving star,” said Shreyas Vissapragada, of the Harvard and Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, in a statement. CNETTuesday (20/12/2022).
The theory predicts that evolving stars are very good at sucking energy from their planetary orbits. Now, scientists can test the theory with direct observation.
Vissapragada is the lead author of a new findings study published in The letters from the astrophysicist diary.
It is perhaps no coincidence that a gas giant planet orbiting close to its star was the first exoplanet discovered by Kepler. The planet has become very massive. The proximity to their home star makes these so-called “hot Jupiters” relatively easy to spot.
Kepler-1658b orbits closer to the star Kepler 1658 than Mercury does to the sun. The planet completes a full orbit every 3.85 days. However, researchers now say the orbital period decreases by 131 milliseconds every year. This indicates that the planet is approaching its star.
Scientists noted that Kepler-1658 had entered the final stages of its life. The star has begun to expand outward, something that should also happen to the sun in the next billions of years as its stellar fuel begins to run out.
Vissapragada says the system provides an exciting real-world laboratory for studying such complex dynamics.
“We can really start refining our tidal physics model,” said Vissapragada.
