exoplanet

In a recent discovery, astronomers have spotted an exoplanet or a super-Earth that is four times the size of our planet. The exoplanet named Ross 508 b revolves around a red dwarf star called Ross 508. Although the star is located just 36.5 light-years away, it is too dim to be seen with naked eyes. Astronomers have noted that the planet exists in the habitable zone of the host star. The findings are part of the study titled “A Super-Earth Orbiting Near the Inner Edge of the Habitable Zone around the M4.5-dwarf Ross…

The very tiny motion of a small star has revealed the presence of a super-Earth exoplanet, orbiting at a distance that is close to habitable.Around a faint red dwarf called Ross 508, located just 36.5 light-years away (yet too dim to be seen with the naked eye), astronomers have confirmed the existence of a world just 4 times the mass of Earth. Given what we know about planetary mass limits, that means the world is likely to be terrestrial, or rocky, rather than gaseous.  The exoplanet, named Ross 508 b, is unlikely to…

This artist’s impression shows the super-Earth exoplanet  55 Cancri e in front of its parent star. 55 Cancri e is about 40 light-years away and orbits a star slightly smaller, cooler, and less bright than our Sun. As the planet is so close to its parent star, one year lasts only 18 hours, and temperatures on the surface are thought to reach around 2000 degrees Celsius. Credit: ESA/Hubble, M. KornmesserAn exoplanet is a planet that is located outside our Solar System.While there is currently no formal agreement on what…

In a fascinating discovery, scientists have found an exoplanet circling a star 17,000 light-years away. The Kepler Space Telescope, which is now retired, made the discovery in 2016. It's the farthest planet yet to be discovered. The exoplanet, named K2-2016-BLG-0005Lb, was discovered using a technique known as microlensing. The method identifies exoplanets by the manner in which their gravitational fields impact the brightness of the stars they orbit. The exoplanet is almost identical to Jupiter in terms of mass and…