![]() ![]() GJ 357 c, the middle planet, has a mass at least 3.4 times Earth’s, orbits the star every 9.1 days at a distance a bit more than twice that of GJ 357 b. If the planet has a dense atmosphere, which will take future studies to determine, it could trap enough heat to warm the planet and allow liquid water on its surface. GJ 357 d is located within the outer edge of its star’s habitable zone, where it receives about the same amount of stellar energy from its star as Mars does from the Sun. The planet’s size and composition are unknown, but a rocky world with this mass would range from about one to two times Earth’s size. The farthest-known planet, named GJ 357 d, is especially intriguing. It orbits 11 times closer to its star than Mercury does our Sun.īut while researchers were looking at ground-based data to confirm the existence of the hot Earth, they uncovered two additional worlds. The transits TESS observed belong to GJ 357 b, a planet about 22% larger than Earth. In February, TESS cameras caught the star dimming slightly every 3.9 days, revealing the presence of a transiting exoplanet - a world beyond our solar system - that passes across the face of its star during every orbit and briefly dims the star’s light. The system is located 31 light-years away in the constellation Hydra. The new worlds orbit a star named GJ 357, an M-type dwarf about one-third the Sun’s mass and size and about 40% cooler that our star. ![]() If made of rock, this planet may be around twice Earth’s size. Areas like planet-star interactions, planetary formation, and even study of the Earth itself enable researchers to develop tools to learn more about how exoplanets evolve, and what ingredients are necessary to support life.Ī planet discovered by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has pointed the way to additional worlds orbiting the same star, one of which is located in the star’s habitable zone. Researchers in NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Sellers Exoplanet Environments Collaboration are leveraging work across disciplines to better understand exoplanets. Future missions like the James Webb Space Telescope will be able to study these discovered planets in greater detail, helping determine their composition. ![]() The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, which launched in April 2018, will monitor 200,000 of the brightest dwarf stars for transiting exoplanets. Other NASA missions also play a key role in detecting exoplanets. Using a wide variety of methods, astronomers have discovered more than 3,700 exoplanets to date, largely thanks to NASA's Kepler/K2 mission. Exoplanets can also teach us more about planets in the universe, such as the diversity of planets in the galaxy, how they interact with their host stars and with each other, and how common solar systems like ours really are. Since water is necessary for life as we know it, its presence is required for worlds to be considered capable of supporting life. Of particular interest are planets that may orbit in their star’s habitable zone, the distance from a star where temperatures allow liquid water to persist on a planet’s surface, given a suitable atmosphere. An exoplanet is a planet orbiting a star other than the Sun. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |