4/30/2023 0 Comments Astrometry planet detection![]() “Astrometry is best suited to find cold Jupiters around all kinds of stars, and thus to find more planetary systems arranged like our home.” “Some other exoplanets around larger M-dwarf stars are also similar to our Jupiter, making the stars fertile ground for future Earth searches,” said Stuart Shaklan, Pravdo’s co-author and the SIM Lite instrument scientist at JPL. Any rocky Earth-size planets that might happen to be in the neighborhood would lie even closer in. For example, VB 10b, though considered a cold Jupiter, is located about as far from its star as Mercury is from the sun. In fact, though the star is more massive than the newfound planet, the two bodies would have a similar girth.īecause the star is so small, its planetary system would be a miniature, scaled-down version of our own. For years, VB 10 was the smallest star known - now it has a new title: the smallest star known to host a planet. It is what’s known as an M-dwarf and is only one-twelfth the mass of our sun, just barely big enough to fuse atoms at its core and shine with starlight. ![]() The planet’s star, called VB 10, is tiny. In reality, the planet’s own internal heat would give it an Earth-like temperature. It is a gas giant, with a mass six times that of Jupiter’s, and an orbit far enough away from its star to be labeled a “cold Jupiter” similar to our own. The newfound exoplanet is about 20 light-years away in the constellation Aquila. For example, a similar technique would be used by SIM Lite, a NASA concept for a space-based mission that is currently being explored. The finding confirms that astrometry could be a powerful planet-hunting technique for both ground- and space-based telescopes. And since more than seven out of 10 stars are small like this one, this could mean planets are more common than we thought.” It’s possible this star also has inner rocky planets. “We found a Jupiter-like planet at around the same relative place as our Jupiter, only around a much smaller star. ![]() So why did they keep trying for so long? “This method is optimal for finding solar-system configurations like ours that might harbor other Earths,” said astronomer Steven Pravdo of JPL. Astrometry is difficult and requires very precise measurements over long periods of time. But finally, astronomers found a Jupiter-sized planet, called VB 10b, using this method. Using the method of astrometry to find planets orbiting other stars has been around for 50 years, and until now it hasn’t bagged a single exoplanet. ![]()
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