His discoveries are currently considered planets candidates
and will need to be further researched and verified before they are confirmed.
Meanwhile, Michelle Kunimoto does not hide her enthusiasm. It’s a great discovery that makes me really excited.
Transition method
Doctoral candidate in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Ms. Kunimoto examines the public data collected by the Kepler mission of the NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration who surveyed the Milky Way between 2009 and 2013.
The planets are located thousands of light years away and are not visible from Earth, even with the most powerful telescopes. They were therefore discovered by transition method.
Each time a planet passes in front of a star, it blocks part of the star’s light, explains Michelle Kunimoto. So I’m looking for signs of these temporary decreases in brightness.
The size of the 17 new “candidate” planets, compared to Mars, Earth and Neptune. The green planet is KIC-7340288 b, a potentially habitable planet.
Photo: Michelle Kunimoto
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The planet KIC-7340288 b is particularly interesting, according to her. It is about one and a half times the size of Earth, it is small enough to be rocky, and it is at a sufficient distance from its star to have an atmospheric pressure allowing to have water.
This is one of the most important factors in the search for life
said Kunimoto, adding that if the discovery is confirmed, it will be one of the rarest planets found so far.
The discovery was published in The Astronomical Journal and is co-authored by her thesis supervisor, Jaymie Matthews, and a former UBC graduate, Henry Ng.
With information from Clare Hennig
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