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A research team led by Lund University in Sweden has discovered a small planet that displays peculiar orbital motion. The shimmying planet, situated 455 light-years from Earth, shows that planetary systems will be considerably more complex than researchers have previously thought.
The newly discovered planet TOI-1408c has a mass reminiscent of eight Earths and circles very near a bigger planet, the recent gas giant TOI-1408b. After starting to review each planets and their star, TOI-1408, intimately, the researchers felt puzzled. The small planet has a really peculiar orbital motion. The interactions between the 2 planets and their star will be likened to a rhythmic dance.
“The small planet exhibits very unusual orbital behaviour and shows considerable variations regarding the time when it passes in front of its star, which is something that we do not see as a rule. The small planet’s existence challenges existing theories on the formation and stability of planetary systems,” says Judith Korth, astrophysicist at Lund University and leader of the study.
The brand new study, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, shows that planetary systems will be considerably more complex than researchers have previously thought. The invention of a small planet between a star and a gas giant is rare and offers a singular case study for the event of planetary systems. This might help the researchers to grasp more about how planets are formed in other solar systems.
“Our results will help researchers to learn more about how planets are formed and the way they behave after they are very close to one another, particularly in systems with giant planets,” says Judith Korth.
Exoplanets are planets situated in a solar system apart from our own. The primary confirmed discovery was made in 1995. Since then, over 5,700 exoplanets have been discovered. The researchers’ discovery of the space oddity TOI-1408c was made possible by utilizing NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Since TESS was launched in 2018, it has observed over 7,000 potential exoplanets.
“I hope that our results will be utilized in future studies to find much more planets in other systems, but in addition to higher understand the massive range of planetary systems that exist in our galaxy,” concludes Judith Korth.
