In the search for extraterrestrials, scientists keep getting new types of planets. But recently, a unique exoplanet has been discovered through data from NASA's Transit Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which has many features that have not been seen in any planet so far. It is one of the lightest planets among the 5000 thousand extraterrestrials discovered now, its mass is about half that of Earth and its diameter is more than 9 thousand kilometers, which is slightly more than the diameter of Mars.
Researchers say their research is another important step in the search for a second Earth because it shows that astronomers can now detect the characteristics of even very small planets. The study's co-author and Dr. Vincent van of the UCL Millard Space Science Laboratory says that in this new study, the size and mass of the planet were calculated using two methods.
Talking about both these methods, Alain said that in both the methods, the help of the study of the light coming from the star of the planet was taken. In one, the decrease in brightness was measured by repeatedly passing in front of the star. In the second method, the effect of the planet's star on the activity was studied.
He said, “In the second method, the movement was very slow, which was about 80 cm per second. Its observation was so wonderful and exciting that we were able to see this small activity even from a distance of 31 light years. The lead author of this study, Dr. Christine Lam, said, "GJ 367b has been named a stony planet based on the precise determination of its radius and mass."
GJ 367b is a group of extraterrestrial planets called Ultra Short Periods (USP) that complete their orbit around the star in less than 24 hours. By precisely studying the basic features of USP, we can understand the history of the formation and development of its planetary system.
After discovering this planet through TESS data and applying transit method, the star spectrum of this planet was studied with the HARPS instrument on the telescope of the European Southern Observatory on Earth. By combining the results of both the methods, the radius and weight of this planet were found. Its radius is 72 percent of the radius of the Earth, and its weight was 55 percent.
The researchers calculated the radius and mass of this planet with 7 and 14 percent accuracy, besides the researchers were also able to predict how the internal structure of this extraterrestrial planet would be. It should be a low-mass rocky planet, but its density is more than the density of Earth, which means that it must have a lot of iron in its core.
Researchers say that these features are like the planet Mercury. This extraterrestrial planet is also very hot due to its proximity to its star, where radiation is 500 times more powerful than Earth. The surface temperature reaches 1500 °C where all the rocks melt. Its Sun is also half the size of our Sun and is an M-class red dwarf, which makes its planets easy to observe.
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