Canadian astronomers have key out a mammoth major planet - like object that ’s so far from its parent star that it bring 80,000 years to complete a individual ambit — a distance that ’s 50 prison term farther than Pluto is from our sun . The discovery may force a re - think into how and where planets are capable of imprint .
Called GU PSc b , it ’s a topnotch - Jupiter that ’s 155 light - years by and about 10 times the bulk of our Jupiter . It ’s 2,000 multiplication farther from its adept than the Earth is from the sun , or 67 times further than Neptune . But harmonize to the astronomers who made the discovery , the major planet is bound to its star via gravity despite the extreme distance , say the CBCthat : “ The planet is actually moving with its star . ”
( Gemini Observatory )
The University of Montreal researchers surmise that the object may actually be a dark-brown nanus , a so - called “ failed star topology . ” Regardless , it shows that planets can form farther away from stars than previously thought . What ’s more , the discovery designate that some planets may not always make in the protoplanetary disk , and that we still have lots to learn about brownish dwarfs ( if that ’s indeed what it is ) .
More from the Gemini Observatoryrelease :
The researchers were looking around GU Psc because the star had just been identified as a member of the young star grouping AB Doradus . Young adept ( only 100 million age sure-enough ) are prime targets for world signal detection through picture because the planets around them are still cooling and are therefore brilliant . This does not mean that planets similar to GU Psc b exist in large numbers pool , as mark by by Étiene Artigau , cobalt - executive program of Naud ’s thesis and astrophysicist at the Université de Montréal . “ We observed more than 90 stars and found only one planet , so this is truly an astronomical oddity ! ”
Observing a satellite does not flat allow determining its mass . alternatively , researchers apply theoretical models of global organic evolution to specify its characteristic . The light spectrum of GU Psc b hold from the Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii was equate to such models to show that it has a temperature of around 800 ° C . Knowing the age of GU Psc due to its location in AB Doradus , the team was able to determine its mass , which is 9 - 13 times that of Jupiter .
This planet , which is only one of a handful to be discovered via direct imaging , obviously ca n’t host life reach its temperature , but it could host a potentially habitable lunation . As notice by the researcher , however , life - bearing condition would n’t last long because the planet is cool rapidly as it ages .
Read the intact scientific paperhere .
AstronomyGas giantsScienceSpace
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