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Updated January 22nd, 2022 at 18:13 IST

Exoplanet discovered by NASA's TESS might be first to get swallowed by its host star

The planets TOI-2337b, TOI-4329b, and TOI-2669b, were found in the images taken between 2018 and 2019 and are orbiting dangerously close to their star.

Reported by: Harsh Vardhan
Exoplanet
Image: Unsplash | Image:self
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Three Jupiter-like gas giants, which were discovered using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will soon be swallowed by their host stars, a new study finds. The planets TOI-2337b, TOI-4329b, and TOI-2669b were found in the images taken between 2018 and 2019 and their end will result from their dangerously close orbit to their star. Scientists have estimated that the planet TOI-2337b will be swallowed by its star in one million years from now, a number that is insignificantly small on a cosmic scale.  Samuel Grunblatt, a postdoctoral fellow at the American Museum of Natural History said as per an ANI report,

These discoveries are crucial to understanding a new frontier in exoplanet studies: how planetary systems evolve over time. 

He had also said that using these observations, scientists can understand the end stages of planets before they get swallowed by their respective stars. It is worth noting that these planets if swallowed by their stars, will be the first ones to meet such an end. 

Features of the gas giants

Grunblatt, who had announced the discovery and confirmation of these planets reports in his paper, published in the Astronomical Journal, that each of these planets closely orbits a subgiant or giant star. Besides, scientists estimated that these planets are 0.5 to 1.7 times more massive than Jupiter but have their sizes ranging from slightly smaller to 1.6 times that of Jupiter. In addition to this, the planets also implied a wide range of varieties as their densities ranged from being styrofoam-like to being three times denser than water.

However, Nick Saunders, co-author of the study believes that these planets are just the tip of the iceberg. "We expect to find tens to hundreds of these evolved transiting planet systems with TESS, providing new details on how planets interact with each other, inflate and migrate around stars including those like our sun", Saunders said as per ANI. 

This discovery could reveal the fate of a solar system

The authors of the study believe that studying the end of such planets could help reveal clues about how a solar system would transform. Astronomer Daniel Huber, co-author of the study said as per ANI, "The Keck observations of these planetary systems are critical to understanding their origins, helping reveal the fate of solar systems like our own". 

Image: Unsplash

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Published January 22nd, 2022 at 18:13 IST

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