An international team of astronomers has recently confirmed the discovery of a super-Neptune exoplanet orbiting a star that closely resembles the Sun.
The recently identified exoplanet, known as TOI-5005 b, is about six times the size and more than 30 times the mass of Earth.
The astronomers documented the discovery on the preprint server arXiv.
685 light-years away
NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is currently surveying around 200,000 of the Sun’s nearest and brightest stars to identify exoplanets that pass in front of them.
As of now, astronomers have identified more than 7,200 candidate exoplanets known as TESS Objects of Interest (TOIs), with 557 of them confirmed.
A recent discovery by a team of astronomers led by Amadeo Castro-González of the Astrobiology Center in Madrid, Spain, has confirmed the existence of another exoplanet originally found by the TESS mission.
A transit signal was identified on the light curve of TOI-5005, a moderately bright solar-type star with a spectral type of G2V. This star is situated around 685 light years from Earth.
The planetary nature of the signal was verified through additional observations conducted using ground-based facilities.
“In this study, we utilized data from TESS, HARPS, PEST, and TRAPPIST-South to validate the planetary status of TOI-5005 b and analyze its orbital and physical characteristics,” the researchers stated in their publication.
6x bigger, 30x heavier
The recently found planet boasts a radius 6.25 times greater than that of Earth and a mass 32.7 times larger than Earth’s, giving it a density of 0.74 g/cm3.
The planet completes an orbit around its host every 6.31 days, maintaining a distance of about 0.066 astronomical units (AU). Scientists have calculated the planet’s equilibrium temperature to be 1,040 Kelvin.
Astronomers have determined that the core mass fraction of TOI-5005 b is approximately 0.74.
In contrast, its envelope metal mass fraction is estimated to be around 0.08, based on their investigation into the planet’s internal structure.
The exoplanet’s metal mass fraction has been determined to be 0.76, which is slightly lower than that of Uranus and Neptune.
According to the findings, planet b is believed to have been created through core accretion.
Based on the available data, the researchers have categorized planet b as a super-Neptune located near the “Neptunian savanna” ridge.
The “Neptunian desert” and “Neptunian savanna” are terms used to describe the phenomenon where there is a scarcity of Neptune-like exoplanets in close orbits, with a higher frequency of occurrence at greater distances.
In the 3-5-day orbital period range, a recently identified overdensity (ridge) of Neptunes is causing them to be separated.
The scientists noted that a new planet, designated as TOI-5005 b, has been discovered among a relatively uncommon group of low-density Neptunes in the Neptunian savanna.
The planets within the ridge, on the other hand, tend to have higher densities, usually exceeding 1.0 g/cm3.
The scientists concluded that the luminosity of TOI-5005 positions the newly discovered planetary system as an excellent candidate for studying its atmospheric and orbital characteristics.
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