The newly discovered supernova orbits the star as small as one-tenth the Sun. It has 4 times the mass of Earth. Astronomers discovered th...
The newly discovered supernova orbits the star as small as one-tenth the Sun. It has 4 times the mass of Earth.
Astronomers discovered that exoplanet OGLE-2018-BLG-0677Lb has an orbit similar to Earth. This exoplanet becomes one of the most distant planets ever discovered. Because it orbits its host star nearly 25,000 light-years away.
They say that 66.9% of this star system is located in a dense region of stars extending towards the center of the Milky Way.
OGLE-2018-BLG-0677Lb is one of the furthest planets ever discovered. (Photo: IFL Science).
Based on the fact that one star moves directly in front of another star when viewed from Earth, Martin and colleagues used a technique called gravitational amplification.
According to Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, light from a farther star is amplified under the influence of the gravitational force of a nearby star. If there is an additional planet, the effect will be enhanced in a short time.
"The combined gravitational pull of the planet and the host star makes the light from the farther background star amplify in a special way. We use telescopes around the world to measure the light breaking effect. ", Martin explained.
To detect the new Earth, researchers use two separate systems:
- Experimental Optical Gravity Amplifier (OGLE) experiment using telescopes in Chile.
- Korea Amplification Telescope Network (KMTNet) consists of 3 similar telescopes in Chile, Australia and South Africa.
Although these projects record 3,000 amplification events each year, the majority are created by stars without accompanying planets.
Up to now, only 90 exoplanets have been discovered through gravitational amplification.
OGLE-2018-BLG-0677Lb is one of the lowest mass planets detected by gravitational amplification technology. Because it's four times bigger than the Earth.
At the distance equivalent to the distance from Venus to the Sun, it orbits the host star only 10% larger than the Sun. A year on this planet is 617 days long.
