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An illustration of the exoplanet Coconuts-2b shows it with its host star.
B. Berries (Soest / UH)
The next time you look at the night sky and marvel at the stars and the vastness of space, remember that there is a planet called Coconuts-2b. Better yet, it’s a pretty cool and big enough exoplanet that could tell us more about the history of gas giants like our own Jupiter and Saturn.
“University of Hawaii Institute of Astronomy graduate student defied all odds and discovered a directly imaged exoplanet, and it’s closest to Earth ever found, just 35 years away. -light, “the university said in a statement Tuesday. . Zhoujian Zhang is the lead author of a study on the planet.
Researchers have spotted more than 4,000 exoplanets, and many have been located by looking for a telltale drop in brightness as a planet moves in front of its star. The discovery of Coconuts-2b is different. “The planet can be directly imaged using the emitted light produced by the waste heat trapped from the formation of the planet,” the university said. It can be seen in the infrared by a sensitive telescope.
The gas giant is truly gigantic at six times the mass of Jupiter. It is named after the Cool Companions on Ultrawide Orbits (Coconuts) survey. The investigation is looking for exoplanets (planets located outside our solar system) that orbit quite far from their host stars. The planet is called Coconuts-2b and its star system is Coconuts-2. The investigation previously revealed a star system called Coconuts-1.
The planet was first spotted in 2011, but researchers believed it was on its own without a host star. The new study published in Astrophysical Journal Letters this week found that the planet actually orbits its star at a distance of 6,000 times that of Earth orbiting the sun.
Opinions on Coconuts-2b would be pretty drastic compared to what we’re used to on Earth. “Night and day would be fundamentally alike, with the host star appearing as a bright red star in the dark sky,” the university said.
Studying exoplanets can help us learn more about the history of our own solar system. “With its enormous orbital separation,” said Zhang, “Coconuts-2b will be an excellent laboratory for studying the atmosphere and composition of a young gas giant planet.”
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