This world is 972 light years away and was found using NASA’s TESS space satellite. A team of researchers within CATA participated in the investigation.
A group of researchers discovered an exoplanet with the characteristics of an ultra-hot Neptune that provides new information about the characteristics of these types of worlds. James Jenkins, Principal Investigator (PI) of the Center for Astrophysics and Related Technologies, CATA, actively participated in this team, and provides us with further information on the implications of this finding.
The exoplanet was found using NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) satellite and was named TOI-3261b. It has approximately 3.82 Earth radii, making it only 2% smaller than Neptune. However, it has a mass equivalent to 30.3 times our planet (density of 3 g/cm3), something unusual for its size. This new world is located around a K-type main sequence star, about 972 light-years away and is the fourth known ultra-short period (USP) planet the size of Neptune.
“It is in a region where these bodies are scarce, the so-called ‘Neptune Desert’. These are planets very close to their stars and, in this particular case, it takes less than a day to complete an orbit, which is rare indeed. In this region, radiation from the host star can destroy the atmosphere of planets like Neptune, through a process called photoevaporation. But, in the case of TOI-3261b, this does not happen because the mass of the planet is very large, allowing it to hold onto some of its atmosphere. In fact, the small atmosphere that has remained around the core of the planet presents an excellent opportunity to investigate the chemistry and physical processes of these bodies, particularly using the James Webb space telescope,” details James Jenkins, also a Professor at the Diego Portales University.
Another of its peculiar characteristics that arises due to the proximity to its parent star, is that it has a high temperature that can reach more than 1,700º C. Astronomers have also been able to establish that TOI-3261 b has a gaseous envelope that occupies around 5 % of the total mass, and its core is potentially enriched with water.
“With my team, and as part of CATA, we are looking for these types of planets. In fact, we found the first ultra-hot Neptune, LTT9779b, so we already have experience in this field. In this new work we were able to aid in two aspects, mainly in the characterization of the host star, using our codes to calculate its fundamental properties, such as its temperature, radius and mass, and also in the interpretation of the system itself, seeing how the planet could have arrived in its current position, and what the implications of this are for the formation and evolution of these types of worlds,” says the Center researcher.
Furthermore, he adds, “we can now continue the search for more planets in the system, which could inform us on the formation, evolution and migration processes that occurred in the past.”
TESS has identified more than 7,200 exoplanet candidates or so-called TESS Objects of Interest (TOI), of which 482 have been confirmed, since it was launched back in April 2018. During this time it has studied nearly 200,000 stars searching for exoplanets in transit, from small rocky worlds to gas giants.
Regarding the star TOI-3261, it is approximately 13% smaller and less massive than the Sun, its spectral type is K1.5 V, it is estimated to be around 6.5 billion years old, and has a metallicity of 0.11 dex.
For further information or queries, contact CATA Communications
Sergio Molleda +56 9 36550074
María José Jullian +56 9 92993653
Image credit: Ricardo Ramirez.