They have discovered a new giant planet that will challenge what is known about planetary formation

Published:

9 dic 2021 03:07 GMT

The planet is located 325 light-years from Earth in the constellation Centaurus.

Astronomers have discovered a new planet in the solar system 10 times heavier than Jupiter and are challenging what the scientific community has known so far about the formation of planets. The study was published in the journal Wednesday Natural.

The planet called b Sentry (AB) b, Or simply b Century b, Which is about 325 light-years away in the constellation Centaurus and orbits the binary star system b Centauri visible without telescopes. B Centauri is at least six times the mass of the Sun, the largest system that runs a planet. In addition, its main star is three times hotter than the Sun and due to its higher temperature, it emits a much larger amount of UV radiation and X-rays.

So far scientists have not believed that it is possible for planets to be close to larger and larger stars, such as the impact of gas and the rapid evaporation of matter. Aggressive environment.

“Type B stars are generally considered to be the most destructive and dangerous environments, so it was believed that it would be very difficult to create large planets around them.” Explained Marcus Johnson, astronomer at Stockholm University and principal professor of research.

At a distance of 100 times greater than the distance between Jupiter and the Sun, the new planet moves through one of the largest planets ever discovered and one of the widest known orbits. The stars that make up the binary system may be important to the planet’s survival.

Now scientists are trying to figure out how b Centauri b could have formed Not possible The ‘in situ’ was created by the usual process Main accumulation, When the nucleus first forms and then galaxy gas and dust gather around it.

“It simply came to our notice then Dynamic interactions, Or may have been created thereby Gravity instability“, The authors of the inquiry consider.

The new planet was discovered at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile using the VHT telescope’s SPHERE instrument, as well as data from archives in the b Centauri system that b Centauri b, in fact, was already in the pictures For 20 yearsAlthough at the time they did not recognize it as a planet.

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