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Indian-origin scientist discovers unique exoplanet
The discovery of the planet, the size of which is equal to 13 Earth masses has raised questions on prior theories of planet formation.
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Artistic rendering of the possible view from LHS 3154b towards its low mass host star. / Penn State
A group of researchers at Pennsylvania State University (PSU) led by Indian-origin researcher Suvrath Mahadevan discovered a planet outside the Earth's solar system that is too massive for its sun.
The planet, now known as LHS 3154b, is equivalent to 13 Earth masses in size, and its discovery has called into question previous knowledge about the formation of planets and their solar systems, according to researchers.
They discovered the massive known planet in a close orbit around the ultracool dwarf star, marking the first time a planet of such mass has been discovered orbiting a low-mass star. “This discovery really drives home the point of just how little we know about the universe. We wouldn’t expect a planet this heavy around such a low-mass star to exist,” said Mahadevan.
The findings published recently in a scientific journal, reported that the planet is orbiting the “ultracool” star LHS 3154 which is nine times less massive than the sun. The mass ratio of the newly found planet with its host star is more than 1000 times that of Earth and the sun.
Briefly explaining the formation of stars and planets, Mahadevan said, the former is formed from large clouds of gas and dust, and the latter can eventually form from the gas and dust that remains as disks of material orbiting the star after its formation.
“The planet-forming disk around the low-mass star LHS 3154 is not expected to have enough solid mass to make this planet,” Mahadevan said, further adding that it has nonetheless been discovered, calling for a reexamination of understanding of how stars and planets work.
The planet was discovered using an astronomical spectrograph named the Habitable Zone Planet Finder or HPV, built by a team of scientists at the PSU, led by Mahadevan. “What we have discovered provides an extreme test case for all existing planet formation theories…This is exactly what we built HPF to do, to discover how the most common stars in our galaxy form planets — and to find those planets.”
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