Exoplanet twice as large as the Earth was discovered 145 light-years after

A new exoplanet almost twice as big as the Earth was discovered in the constellation of the Virgin, some 145 light-years away from us.

The exoplanet, named Wolf 503b, was detected when a team of researchers from Canada, the United States, and Germany analyzed the observation data returned by the Kepler Space Telescope in May. According to preliminary results, it is 10 times closer to the star star than Mercury is in the sun, which takes only six days to complete a single orbit.

A size comparison of (L to R) the Earth, Wolf 503b and Neptune. The blue color for Wolf 503b is imaginary; nothing is still known about the atmosphere or the surface of the planet. Photo: NASA Goddard / Robert Simmon (Earth), NASA / JPL (Neptune).

"In May, when the latest version of Kepler K2 data was released, we quickly launched a program that allowed us to find as many interesting exoplanets as possible," said Merrin Peterson, a student at the University of Montreal. declaration.

As part of this effort, Peterson and his colleagues searched for occasional lows or transients in the light of different stars to find signs of an exoplanet in their orbit. The work revealed the presence of Wolf 503b, which led the team to make follow-up observations from the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility and the Palomar Observatory in California.

The work confirmed the exoplanetary status and size of the body and helped the team characterize its star as an "orange dwarf" – a stellar body twice as old as the sun, but a little less bright.

Although the newly discovered planet is twice as large as the Earth, the conditions will not be suitable for life. Essentially, the surface temperatures would be very high because of the planet's extremely low orbital trajectory.

However, researchers say the size of the planet could play a crucial role in helping scientists understand the differences between super-rocky and sub-Neptunian exoplanets, which are a little smaller than Neptune or almost four times larger than the Earth. .

According to a previous study, exoplanets that are 1.5 to 2 times larger than the Earth are less numerous than larger and smaller ones and could mark the difference between the Super-Rocky Earth and their gaseous counterparts.

"Wolf 503b is one of the only [few] planets with a radius close to the gap that has a star bright enough to lend itself to a more detailed study that will further limit its true nature, said Björn Benneke, team member in the release. the opportunity to better understand the origin of this radius as well as the nature of the intriguing populations of "super-lands" and "sub-neptunes" as a whole. "

But it's not that. As the orange dwarf star of the planet appears very bright in the sky because of the distance, the team think that the study of its radial velocity could help them predict the mass of the planet. ; exoplanet. Once the mass is determined, they can combine it with the radius of the planet and better understand its density and composition.

This, as they said, could be done with the help of the next James Webb Space Telescope. When launched, the space observatory could determine the chemical substances in the planet's atmosphere and the presence of hydrogen or water molecules, confirming their similarity to the Earth or Neptune.

"By studying the nature of Wolf 503b, we will understand more about the structure of planets near the range of radius and more generally about the diversity of exoplanets present in our galaxy", concluded Peterson. "I look forward to learning more about it."