Insta
New Discovery: Brazilian Astronomers Spot Two Planets Near A Sun-Like Star
Swarajya Staff
Nov 05, 2016, 06:29 PM | Updated 06:29 PM IST
Save & read from anywhere!
Bookmark stories for easy access on any device or the Swarajya app.
A team of Brazilian astronomers has discovered two new planets around a star similar to the sun known as HIP 68468. The two new planets, dubbed "super Neptune" and "super Earth", are the first to be discovered by Brazilian astronomers since the discovery in 2015 of a planet similar to Jupiter, according to Brazil's G1 news website on Friday.
Astronomer Jorge Melendez, a professor at the Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Sao Paulo, and head researcher, said one of the objectives of the team was to compare the solar system with other planetary systems, Xinhua news agency reported.
The planetary environment around HIP 68468 is quite different from the system that includes Earth, he said. While the mass of the newly discovered planets was similar to that of Earth's and Neptune's, the planets rotate very close to their star, which suggests they may have migrated from a more exterior to a more interior region of their planetary system.
"Super Neptune, called HIP 68468c, has a mass that is 50 percent greater than the planet Neptune. But while our Neptune is far from the sun (30 times the distance between the Earth and Sun), the orbit of the new planet is only 70 per cent of the Earth-Sun distance," G1 said.
Super Earth, or HIP 68468b, has a mass that is three times larger than Earth's, and its orbit is barely 3 percent of the distance from Earth to the Sun.That means that it is "practically stuck to its star", HIP 68468, which is 6 billion years old and some 300 light years away from Earth.
The discovery was made at the European Southern Observatory in Chile's northern Atacama Desert.
(With Inputs From IANS)
Save & read from anywhere!
Bookmark stories for easy access on any device or the Swarajya app.
Support Swarajya's 50 Ground Reports Project & Sponsor A Story
Every general election Swarajya does a 50 ground reports project.
Aimed only at serious readers and those who appreciate the nuances of political undercurrents, the project provides a sense of India's electoral landscape. As you know, these reports are produced after considerable investment of travel, time and effort on the ground.
This time too we've kicked off the project in style and have covered over 30 constituencies already. If you're someone who appreciates such work and have enjoyed our coverage please consider sponsoring a ground report for just Rs 2999 to Rs 19,999 - it goes a long way in helping us produce more quality reportage.
You can also back this project by becoming a subscriber for as little as Rs 999 - so do click on this links and choose a plan that suits you and back us.
Click below to contribute.