A team of scientists headed by Professor Abhijit Chakraborty of the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad has discovered the densest alien planet, which is 13 times bigger than Jupiter.
The densest alien planet, 13 times larger than Jupiter, has been discovered by an international group of researchers led by Professor Abhijit Chakraborty of the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in Ahmedabad.
This is the third exoplanet to have been found from India, and by the PRL researchers. The details of the finding have been published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics Letters.
The group, including researchers from India, Germany, Switzerland, and the USA, utilised the native PRL Advanced Radial-velocity Abu-sky Search spectrograph(PARAS) at the Gurushikhar Observatory in Mt. Abu to measure the mass of the planet. The exoplanet has a mass of 14 g/cm3.
The newly discovered planet revolves around a star known as TOI4603 or HD 245134. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) of Nasa had initially identified the star as a potential host for an unidentified secondary body. Now that it has been proven to be a planet, the body has been given the name TOI 4603b or HD 245134b.
The planet orbits its star once every 7.24 days and is 731 light years away from Earth. With a temperature of 1396 degrees Celsius, the planet is raging hot.
According to a press release issued by the Indian Space Research Organization (Isro), the planet's location in the transition mass range between massive giant planets and low-mass brown dwarfs sets it apart from other discoveries.
Only five exoplanets in this mass range are currently known, and their masses range from 11 to 16 times that of Jupiter.
Over 5000 exoplanets outside the solar system of varying types, properties, and atmospheres have been discovered by scientists as the search for life beyond Earth continues.
One of the largest and densest giant planets, the newly discovered exoplanet TOI 4603b orbits very close to its host star, less than one tenth the distance between our Sun and Earth.
Isro stated, "The detection of such systems provides valuable insights into the formation, migration, and evolution mechanisms of massive exoplanets."
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