Astronomers find unprecedented ‘super-Jupiter’ with long orbit of 180 days
An international team of scientists, led by researchers from Queen’s University Belfast, has announced the discovery of a rare “super-Jupiter” planet that completes an orbit in an impressive 180 days. Named NGTS-38 b, the exoplanet is approximately 8% larger than Jupiter and almost five times more massive than the gas giant in our Solar System.
The initial detection of the celestial body occurred through analysis of data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Research Satellite (TESS). This space observatory looks for small reductions in the brightness of stars, which indicate the passage of a planet in front of them, an event known as a transit.
The researchers say that NGTS-38 b’s 180-day orbit is among the longest periods ever identified using this planetary transit methodology.
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Challenging process to find the new world
Toby Rodel, a PhD student at the School of Mathematics and Physics at Queen’s University, who led the research supervised by Professor Christopher Watson, told about the exciting journey. He said that while it is common to discover planets with short orbits, finding one so far away, lasting 180 days, represents a significant advance. Rodel added that the planet was initially detected by TESS in a single transit, on December 25, 2020. Then, the team used telescopes from the Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS), in Chile, observing the star for more than 200 nights until managing to record the final moments of a second transit. By analyzing the minimal changes in the star’s movements and the small gravitational attraction exerted by the planet, it was possible to confirm that it completes one revolution every 180 days.
This particularity makes it a notable find, as planets with longer and more distant orbits are considerably more difficult to locate, as the chances of them passing in front of their stars are lower and transits occur infrequently.
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Unique details about the exoplanet’s temperature and orbit
Rodel highlighted that NGTS-38 b has a much cooler temperature compared to most exoplanets studied in detail. This provides a valuable opportunity to investigate planetary behavior in low-temperature environments.
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Additionally, the new planet’s orbit is slightly oval, which differs from the nearly circular trajectories of most planets in our Solar System. At its closest point to the star, it is a little further away than Mercury is from the Sun. At its greatest distance, the position is almost equivalent to that of the Earth in relation to the Sun, however, its host star is hotter and larger than the Sun, resulting in higher temperatures on the planet.
Due to its considerable mass, NGTS-38 b exerts a strong gravitational pull. Its distance from the star also suggests the possibility of holding moons or rings in its orbit, an exciting prospect, as structures of this type have never been observed on planets outside our Solar System.
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The collaborative work of years towards discovery
The research was published in the renowned publication Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The international team, led by experts from Queen’s University, included scientists from universities such as Leiden, Geneva, Warwick, Birmingham and New Mexico, among other institutions.
Professor Christopher Watson commented that this discovery resulted from years of thorough investigation. He stated that due to the planet’s approximately six-month orbital period, the chances of observing a second transit were quite limited.
Watson added that expanding the ability to detect planets with longer orbital periods is essential to the eventual search for an Earth-like planet. He acknowledged that NGTS-38 b does not resemble Earth, but highlighted how the field of astronomy has advanced remarkably in the last two decades.
It is worth mentioning that another team, led by Felipe Rojas and Dr. Rafael Brahm, from Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, in Santiago, Chile, also discovered the system independently and published their research on the pre-publication server arXiv.
Felipe highlighted that this planet stands out among the transiting exoplanets known to date, having a mass equivalent to 4.5 Jupiters, an orbit of half a year and a slight eccentricity. He concluded that worlds with these characteristics have been little explored and their properties carry the “fingerprints” of their formation, making this system an excellent object of study for understanding the origin of giant planets.
