EXOPLANETS
- SCI & TECH
News:
This 'forbidden'
exoplanet is way too massive for its star
What's
in the news?
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Astronomers have discovered a massive
extrasolar planet or "exoplanet," orbiting an ultracool dwarf star
that is way too small to host such a world, challenging scientists' models of
how planets and planetary systems are born.
Exoplanets:
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Exoplanets
are planets that orbit other stars and are beyond our solar system.
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Exoplanets come in a host of different
sizes. They can be gas giants bigger than Jupiter or as small and rocky as
Earth. They are also known to have different kinds of temperatures - boiling
hot to freezing cold.
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According to NASA, to date, more than 5,000 exoplanets have been
discovered.
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Scientists believe that there are more
planets than stars as each star have at least one planet orbiting it.
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So far, most of the discovered exoplanets
are similar to Jupiter as Earth-sized planets are much smaller in size and
harder to discover with older telescopes.
Importance
of studying exoplanets:
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Broadens our understanding of other solar
systems and also helps us piece together information
about our own planetary system and origin.
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Finding out the distance between an
exoplanet and its host star. This helps scientists determine if a discovered
world is habitable or not.
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If an exoplanet is too close to the star,
it might be too hot to sustain liquid water.
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If it’s too far, it might only have frozen
water.
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When a planet is at a distance that
enables it to have liquid water, it is said to be in the “Goldilocks zone”.