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Exoplanet with temperate climate discovered
by Jaspreet Virk - March 18, 2010 - comments
In a study published in the journal ‘Nature,’ the researchers have stated that Corot-9b is the first of its type planet which can be studied in detail.
In a first of its kind discovery, a team of astronomers at the French space agency Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES) have discovered an exoplanet, a planet out of our solar system but which is similar to the planets found in our solar system.
The exoplanet, named CoRoT-9b, was spotted orbiting its sun, named CoRoT-9, in the constellation Serpens, which is the Latin name for snake.
The planet was detected by the CoRoT satellite, and its presence was confirmed by additional observation with the ESO exoplanet-hunter in Chile and several telescopes from the European Southern Observatory.
CoRoT-9b, unlike other exoplanets
CoRoT-9b, which is some 1500 light years away from Earth, is the size of Jupiter.
CoRoT-9b transits its star once in every 95 days and each transit lasts for about eight hours.
Unlike the exoplanets discovered in the past, CoRoT-9b is a temperate planet.
Distinct from the planets discovered outside our solar system, CoRoT-9b is not an extremely hot planet. It does not orbit very close to its star, nor does it have an eccentric orbit, taking it close to or far away from it star, thus leading to extreme temperatures.
In fact, the new exoplanet discovered is far away from it star and has an orbit that is similar to Mercury. Further, its temperature ranges between -4 to 320 Fahrenheit.
"This is the first planet where it makes sense to apply the models developed for planets within our solar system,” stated the lead researcher, Hans Deeg.
Corot-9b circles its star once in every 95 days and each orbit lasts for about eight hours.
Scope for detailed study
In a study published in the journal ‘Nature,’ the researchers have stated that Corot-9b is the first of its type planet which can be studied in detail.
“Of the over 400 known exoplanets, there are about 70 planets that transit their central star, a situation that permits the derivation of their basic parameters and facilitates investigations of their atmospheres,” states the study titled ‘A transiting giant planet with a temperature between 250 K and 430 K.’
Also, since Corot-9b is positioned between its star and Earth, the light from its star passes through its atmosphere before reaching our planet. As a result, the researchers can study the filtered light and can find out the molecules that are present in Corot-9b's atmosphere.
The filtered light technique can also be used to study which molecules are present in the atmosphere of other gas exoplanets.