The system is a wonderful target for studying the creation and evolution of atmospheres.
Researchers have been using planetenjager TESS discovered three new, promising planets. The planets orbit the star TOI 451 (also known as CD-38 1467); a much younger version of our sun. It’s an exciting find. For these planets may well provide us with much more insight into how atmospheres arise and evolve.
The entire system is in the so-called Pisces-Eridanus stream; a recently discovered ‘river’ of young stars and named after the constellations with the greatest concentrations of twinkling suns. These young stars are less than 3 percent of our solar system age. And that’s interesting. The initially determined age for the river was much older than scientists now suspect. The entire “river” stretches for about a third of the sky; for example, it is about 1,300 light-years long and includes 14 constellations. How such a river is formed? Stellar rivers are born when the gravity of our Milky Way Galaxy tears apart star clusters or dwarf galaxies. The individual stars move along the cluster’s original orbit, forming an elongated group that gradually disintegrates.
The Pisces-Eridanus Current. Image: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
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The young star TOI 451 is located about 400 light-years from Earth in the constellation Eridanus, which shines in the southern sky. The star has a mass of 0.95 times that of the Sun and is about 12% smaller than our Sun. This means that the TOI 451 is also slightly cooler and emits 35 percent less energy. In addition, the star orbits around its own axis every 5.1 days, which is more than five times faster than our sun.
Planets
Researchers now have in a new study discovered that this star is accompanied by three planets. It concerns three scorching hot worlds that are slightly larger than the earth. The innermost planet is TOI 451 b, which orbits its parent star every 1.9 days. TOI 451 b is about 1.9 times the size of the Earth and has an estimated mass ranging from two to 12 times the Earth. The second planet, TOI 451 c, orbits its star every 9.2 days. The planet is about three times the size of the Earth and its mass is between three and sixteen times that of the Earth. The furthest and largest planet is TOI 451 d. But make no mistake. Because although this planet is farthest from TOI 451, it is still three times closer to its parent star than Mercury is to our sun. This planet orbits the star every sixteen days, is four times the size of Earth and weighs between four and nineteen Earth’s masses.
Artist’s impression of the TOI 451 system. Image: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Download high-resolution images from NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio
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So all planets are a short distance from their sun. And that means that it will be blisteringly hot. On the inner planet it can reach a scorching 1200 degrees Celsius, while the temperature on the outer planet can reach 450 degrees Celsius. It means that they are very inhospitable planets where life as we know it is impossible.
Atmosphere
Still, this doesn’t mean the planets are uninteresting. Because researchers are eager to subject the planets to a closer inspection. “The system is only 120 million years old and is only 400 light years away,” emphasizes study leader Elisabeth Newton. “This allows us to observe this system in great detail. In addition, the discovered planets are all between two and four times the size of Earth, making them promising targets for testing existing theories of how atmospheres form and evolve. ”
Properties
Astromas suspect that planets this size are able to maintain some of their atmospheres, despite the intense heat of their nearby star. In addition, different theories of how atmospheres evolve over time suggest a wide variety of properties. By observing the starlight that seeps through the atmosphere of these planets, the researchers hope to better study this phase of development and determine its composition. “By measuring the starlight entering a planet’s atmosphere at different wavelengths, we can determine the chemical composition and presence of clouds or high-altitude nebulae,” explains researcher Elisa Quintana. And that can help refine our current models of how atmospheres arise and evolve.
Debris
At this point, the researchers have already come across some interesting properties. For example, observations with the infrared telescope WISE reveal that the system is unusually bright between wavelengths of 12 and 24 micrometers. This suggests the presence of a real debris disk, where rocky celestial bodies collide and grind themselves to dust. Although the researchers cannot determine the exact size of that disk, they see it as a diffuse ring of rock and dust about as far from the star as Jupiter from our sun.
Finally, the researchers found that TOI 451 probably also has two more stellar companions that circle each other far beyond the planets. All in all, interesting discoveries thanks to planet hunter TESS, which has already revealed many exotic worlds. Research continues. Because the researchers would like to use the Hubble space telescope and the upcoming James Webb telescope to learn more about the planets around TOI 451. In addition, TESS also continues to map the universe undisturbed. “Further observations with TESS will continue to allow us to push the boundaries of what we know about exoplanets and their systems in the coming years,” concludes researcher Jessie Christiansen.
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