Indian scientists discover new Exoplanet

• A new Jupiter-size exoplanet with the highest density known till this date (~14 g/cm3) and mass 13 times than that of Jupiter, has been discovered by an international team of scientists led by Prof. Abhijit Chakraborty at the Exoplanet Research Group of the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad.
• ISRO said that the discovery of this massive exoplanet was made using the indigenously made PRL Advanced Radial-velocity Abu-sky Search spectrograph (PARAS) at the 2 m telescope of PRL at its Gurushikhar Observatory in Mt. Abu by measuring the mass of the planet precisely.
• The newly discovered exoplanet is found around the star called TOI4603 or HD 245134 and is located 731 light years away.
  • It orbits very close to its host star at a distance less than 1/10th the distance between our Sun and Earth and completes one revolution in mere 24 days
• NASA’s The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) initially declared TOI4603 as a possible candidate to host a secondary body of unknown nature.
• The planet falls into the transition mass range of massive giant planets and low-mass brown dwarfs with masses ranging from 11 to 16 times the mass of Jupiter.
  • Less than five exoplanets are currently known in this mass range so far.

ABOUT EXOPLANETS

• An exoplanet is any planet beyond our solar system.
• Most orbit other stars, but free-floating exoplanets, called rogue planets, orbit galactic center and are untethered to any star.
• Compositions of exoplanets range from very rocky (like Earth) to very gas-rich (like Jupiter and Saturn).