Citizen scientists discover two gaseous exoplanets around bright sun-like star

Citizen scientists have discovered two gaseous exo-planets orbiting a bright sun like-star, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said. The discoveries were made as a part of its Planet Hunter TESS initiative, which allows people to collaborate with scientists and astronomers in the quest for planets outside our solar system. As of now, more than 29,000 people worldwide have joined the joint effort to help scientists find exoplanets.

2 new planets

Recently, Planet Hunter TESS announced that it has discovered two exoplanets, both of whom orbit a star called HD 152843. The finding was announced in a study published online in Monthly Notices of Royal Astronomical Society and listed dozens of people as co-authors. As per the study, the star, which resembles the sun, is located 352 light-years away from earth.

The first exoplanet-named Planet b- is about the size of Neptune and completes one orbit around its star in about 12 days, according to NASA. Meanwhile, the second exoplanet-Planet C- has an orbit between 19 and 35 days. While planet b is about 3.4 times bigger than the earth, planet c or “sub-Saturn” is 5.8 times bigger.

“Studying them together, both of them at the same time, is really interesting to constrain theories of how planets both form and evolve over time,” said Nora Eisner, a doctoral student in astrophysics at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom and lead author of the study. 

Similiar discovery 

The discovery of a “cool” exoplanet located 90 light-years from Earth has excited scientists in their hunt for extraterrestrial life. According to a study published in Science Daily, researchers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the University of New Mexico discovered exoplanet ‘TOI-1231 b’ orbiting an M dwarf star - otherwise known as a red dwarf. The scientists were able to characterise the star and measure both the radius and the mass of TOI-1231 b. 

As per the study, the researchers found that the planet, a temperate sub-Neptune-sized body with a 24-day orbit, is eight times closer to its star than the Earth is to the sun. But its temperature is similar to our home planet because the red dwarf itself is less potent, the team noted. They said that its atmosphere is approximately 330 Kelvin or 140 degrees Fahrenheit, making ‘TOI-1231 b’ one of the coolest, small exoplanets accessible for atmospheric studies discovered yet. 

Image: NASA