In a first, Indian scientists find exoplanet where one 'year' lasts only 19 days

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In a first, Indian scientists finds an exoplanet where a year lasts for 19 days

In a first, a scientific team from India has discovered an exoplanet EPIC 211945201b or K2-236b which completes its orbit around the host star, EPIC 211945201 or K2-236, in 19 days, which is like one year for the planet.

Exoplanets are generally discovered on foreign soil because the telescope that can see as far as 600 light years from the earth are present in the USA and in Europe.

WHO DISCOVERED EXOPLANET IN INDIA?

A team of scientists led by Prof Abhijit Chakraborty of the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad, has found a sub-Saturn or super-Neptune size planet (mass of about 27 Earth Mass and size of 6 Earth Radii) around a Sun-like star.

HOW WAS EXOPLANET K2-236B DISCOVERED IN INDIA?

For the first time, India has developed first-of-its-kind-spectrograph, a telescope which can measure the mass of a planet going around a star. Very few spectrographs exist around the world that can take such precise measurements.

Photo courtesy: ISRO

FEATURES OF THE EXOPLANET

• The name of the host star is EPIC 211945201 or K2-236; therefore, the name of the planet is EPIC 211945201b or K2-236b
• It is rare to discover an exoplanet of such mechanism with such a super-Neptune or sub-Saturn as it is too close to its host star
• Although the planet is huge in size with a mass of about 27 Earths and size of 6 times the radius of Earth, it takes only 19.5 days for it to go around the star
• The host star itself is about 600 light years away from the Earth.
• By measuring the amplitude of the wobbling of the host star, the mass of the planet was found to be 27±14MEarth

MORE ABOUT EXOPLANETS

Scientists are making exoplanet the topic of discussion. Till June 2, more than 3,786 exoplanets have been discovered in 2834 systems. Exoplanets generally have masses between 10-70 of earth's mass and radii between 4 to 8 the radius of the earth.

These planets come in notice of the scientists with the help of the wavelength of light emitting from their host.

Further, there is a band around stars which create conditions for hosting liquid water on a planet's surface, which termed that zone as habitable zone or the "Goldilocks" zone.

Based on the mass and radius, model-dependent calculations suggest that the heavy elements, like ice, silicates, and iron content is 60-70 per cent of the total mass.

This detection is important as it adds to a sparse catalog of confirmed exoplanets with masses between 10-70 MEarth and radii between 4-8 REarth, whose masses and radii are measured to a precision of 50 per cent or better.

Only 23 such systems (including the present) are known to this date with such precise measurement of mass and radii.