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Ultra-Hot Neptune-Sized Exoplanet Discovered
Context: A group of astronomers from the University of Southern Queensland in Australia confirmed the existence of a new exoplanet, TOI-3261b, using data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS).
- They detected a transit signal in the light curve of TOI-3261, a K-type star located about 972 light years away, confirming it as a planet.
TESS’s Exoplanet Hunt
- Launched in April 2018, TESS has been surveying the brightest stars near the sun, searching for exoplanets ranging from small, rocky planets to giant gas balls.
- It has identified more than 7,200 candidate exoplanets (TESS Objects of Interest, or TOI), of which 482 have been confirmed.
An international team of astronomers has discovered a new exoplanet using NASA’s TESS. The alien world is nearly the size of Neptune and boasts an equilibrium temperature exceeding 1,700 Kelvin, making it ultra-hot.
About TOI-3261b:
- It has a radius of about 3.82 Earth radii, making it just 2% smaller than Neptune.
- The exoplanet has an unusually high mass of about 30.3 Earth masses, resulting in a high bulk density of 3.0 g/cm³.
- It orbits its star every 0.88 days at a distance of 0.017 AU, classifying it as an ultra-short period planet (USP).
- It is only the fourth known Neptune-sized USP.
- Due to its close proximity to its parent star, which has an effective temperature of about 5,070 K, TOI-3261b is estimated to be ultra-hot with an equilibrium temperature of around 1,722 K.
- Astronomers believe that TOI-3261b has a gaseous envelope and its core is possibly rich in water.
- Gaseous envelope makes up about 5% of its total mass, the second highest fraction among known Neptune-sized ultra-short period planets (USPs).
Host Star (TOI-3261)
- It has a spectral type K1.5 V.
- Size: 13% smaller and less massive than the sun.
- Age: Estimated to be 6.5 billion years old.
- Metallicity: 0.11 dex.
Exoplanets
- All of the planets in our solar system orbit around the Sun. Planets that orbit around other stars are called exoplanets.
- Planets are very hard to see directly with telescopes. They are hidden by the bright glare of the stars they orbit.
NASA’s mission related to Neptune: NASA’s Voyager 2 became the first and only spacecraft to study Neptune up close.