Scientists discover 4 new alien worlds 2,300 light years away

exoplanet
NASA

Recently scientists have spotted four new exoplanets (extrasolar planets) in a distant galaxy orbiting around a dwarf star. A group of astronomers used the Hungarian Automated Telescope Network-South (HATSouth) Exoplanet Survey to spot these planets, namely HATS-50, HATS-51, HATS-52 and HATS-53; all of which belong to the G-type.

"We report the discovery of four close-in transiting exoplanets (HATS-50b through HATS-53b), discovered using the HATSouth three-continent network of homogeneous and automated telescopes," stated the report, which was published in arXiv.org. The study was conducted by a team of researchers led by Max Planck Institute for Astronomy's (Germany) Thomas Henning.

The Automated Telescope Network (HATNet) is a Hungarian project, which is a huge network that contains six astrograph telescope systems. The aim of this network is to find out the exoplanets that are orbiting the comparatively bright stars, which can be seen from earth's northern hemisphere.

All the four planets belong to the class of exoplanets known as 'hot Jupiters.' Objects of this type are similar planet Jupiter, with orbital periods of less than 10 days, 'Phys.org' reported. They have high surface temperatures as they orbit their parent stars very closely.

Among the four newly found "hot Jupiter" alien worlds, HATS-50b happens to be the smallest one. Its radius is around 1.13 Jupiter radii and mass is near about 0.39 Jupiter radii. As per the report, the system is situated about 2,300 light years away from earth.

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On the other hand, HATS-51b is the most massive exoplanet among four of them. Its radius is nearly 1.41 Jupiter radii. The alien planet, located almost 1,560 light years away from earth, orbits its dwarf star entirely once in every 3.35 days.

This article was first published on January 1, 2018
Related topics : Exoplanet
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