Humans have been searching for water and other crucial resources for long in outer space. Billionaires have entered into the Space race and many are even propelling for possible Asteroid mining.
But sometimes what we are searching, is coming to us already.
While the CHEOPS (CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite) satellite was on its run, a remarkable exoplanet got accidentally captured although the satellite was designated for hunt of two exoplanets in another closer star space.
These two exoplanets, along with another in vicinity were discovered by Swiss astronomers in 2019 using High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS).
Hunting and capturing them in our cameras has been on the world’s brilliant minds since then.
But when the satellite was taking pictures of an entity just 50 light-years away, it was lucky enough to click this unique exoplanet ‘photobomb’.
A rare planet “with no known equivalent” in the outer Universe, as per the researchers.
What is an exoplanet?
Exoplanet, generally, is referred to a planet that exists outside our solar system, in another one. We have detected many exoplanets since its inception in 1917.
About 1 in every 5 stars (just like Sun having another stellar system) possess an Earth-like planet around it in its habitable zone and we know that there are more than 200 billion stars in just the milky-way.
Upon estimating, there can be more than 11 billion such Earth-alike planets in the whole known Universe and this has triggered the interest of mankind in the extra-terrestrial life.
All about the extra-terrestrial planet with a key to life:
The planet ‘Nu2 Lupi d’ has been traced 50 light-years away in the constellation called Lupus (Latin for Wolf) moving around a star called Nu2 Lupi (planet being in another star system).
Nu2 Lupi has now become one of the three naked-eye stars those are known to host multiple transiting planets.
According to an astrophysicist: “Transiting systems such as Nu2 Lupi are of paramount importance in our understanding of how planets form and evolve, as we can compare several planets around the same bright star in detail.”
The newly found planet is nearly 2.5 times the size of Earth and possess about 9 times its mass.
A professor of Astrophysics explains: “We knew that already for the two inner planets, which led us to point CHEOPS (an ESA satellite) to the system in the first place. However, the third planet is quite far away from the star; no one was expected to see its transit!”
“This proved a game-changer, as it is the first time an exoplanet with a revolution period of over 100 days has been spotted transiting a star that is bright enough to be visible to the naked eye.”
What’s more exciting is the fact that the planet has a rocky interior and hosts more water than Earth itself enshrined in the envelopes of hydrogen and helium gases.
But will all this make it habitable?
No, as the water available is not in liquid form; either it has high-pressured ice or high-temperature steam, making it uninhabitable for us humans.
The density-cum-composition of the celebrated planet was done using archival data from other observatories and multiple numerical models designated for space objects.
How this exoplanet may hep us in uncovering the secrets of our origin?
The CHEOPS mission Scientist tells: “Due to its relatively long period, the amount of stellar radiation reaching the planet is mild in comparison to many other discovered exoplanets.”
“The less radiation a planet receives, the less it changes over time. Therefore, a planet with a long period could have retained more information about its origin.”
So now, we have a weird exoplanet, its pictures, data and its in our reach to study. It can even help us discover new planets and reveal their secrets.
Planetary transits give our curious minds, an excellent opportunity to study the planet’s atmosphere, orbit, size, and above all, the interior.
“But so far, the few such exoplanets astronomers had found orbited faint stars. In other words: little of their light reaches Earth and therefore makes them difficult to study.”
“The amount of stellar radiation reaching planet d is also mild in comparison to many other discovered exoplanets; in our Solar System, Nu2 Lupi d would orbit between Mercury and Venus”.
“Combined with its bright parent star, long orbital period, and suitability for follow-up characterization, this makes planet d hugely exciting – it is an exceptional object with no known equivalent, and sure to be a golden target for future study.”