An international research team, led by scientists from NASA, has announced the discovery of seven extremely hot planets, each larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune, located about 5,000 light-years away from our planet.
Planet Hunters
Published in the “Journal of Planetary Science,” this rare stellar system was found during the ongoing review of data from NASA’s retired Kepler space telescope. Launched in 2009, Kepler’s sole mission was to discover Earth-sized planets orbiting other stars in the Milky Way. After nine and a half years, the telescope’s control system fuel was depleted, and NASA announced its retirement in October 2018. During its mission, Kepler observed 530,506 stars and discovered more than 2,500 planets by monitoring the light from stars. A slight dimming followed by a brightening of the star’s light indicated a planet passing in front. To visualize this, imagine holding a small metal ball between your fingers and passing it in front of a large lamp; you would notice a dimming of the light, similarly to how Kepler detected planetary transits.
Remarkable Worlds
The new study reveals that the star around which these seven planets orbit, named Kepler 385, is sun-like but only about 10% larger in size and 5% hotter. The innermost two planets could be rocky like Earth with thin atmospheres, while the outer five, being larger, are expected to have thick atmospheres, according to a NASA press release.
These planets are in close proximity to their star, with the nearest completing an orbit in approximately 3.5 days, and the furthest in about 86 days, slightly less than Mercury’s orbit around the Sun. The largest, Kepler 385 d, has a radius 2.5 times that of Earth and is sixth from the star. The smallest is closest to the star, with a radius about 1.2 times that of Earth.
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