14 DAY TRIAL // With more than 400 exoplanets identified in just a few years, one could easily argue that this field of research is one of the most prolific in astronomy today. Indeed, researchers seem to be in the habit of finding these celestial bodies at a very high rate, in spite of the massive technological difficulties associated with conducting the highly-precise measurements that eventually lead to exoplanetary detection. Such was the case with a recent finding, which saw the discovery of one of the youngest such planets ever found. Astronomers who identified the body say that it revolves around a star that is very similar to the Sun, ScienceDaily reports.
According to investigators, datasets collected thus far would seem to indicate that the planet is only 35 million years old, a glimpse in geological time. It has been found orbiting around the star BD+20 1790, and researchers estimate that it is approximately six times heavier than the gas giant Jupiter. However, the object is orbiting its parent star at a distance much smaller than that of Mercury to the Sun, which means that the two are probably tidally-locked. This means that the exoplanet always keeps the same face oriented towards its star. Details of the work appear in the latest issue of the renowned scientific journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
“The planet was detected by searching for very small variations in the velocity of the host star, caused by the gravitational tug of the planet as it orbits – the so-called 'Doppler wobble technique.' Overcoming the interference caused by the activity was a major challenge for the team, but with enough data from an array of large telescopes the planet's signature was revealed,” University of Hertfordshire astronomer Dr. Maria Cruz Galvez-Ortiz says. The term activity refers to a host of phenomena that are created by the intense magnetic fields around a very young star.
Galvez-Ortiz and UH colleague Dr. John Barnes were part of the international collaboration of scientists that made the discovery. Discovering such a young planet bears significant implications for planetary research. Astronomers usually target relatively old stars for exoplanetary surveys. On average, stars in these studies are at least 1 billion years old, which means that, if they have planets orbiting them, these bodies formed a long time ago. The fact that the recent survey managed to identify one in its earliest stages of development could also provide more clues as to how our own solar system evolved.