Animation Shows Four Alien Planets Orbiting A Star 129 Light Years Ago
A mesmerizing new animation showing four massive planets orbiting a sun five times brighter than the Sun. That has offered a rare glimpse of a distant solar system.
According to The Mirror, the known star is HR 8799, 129 light years away, located in the constellation of Pegasus. The star is less than 60 million years old, meaning it shines far better than our own sun, which formed about 4.6 billion years ago.
The four planets, each are more massive than Jupiter. The length of the single orbit estimated to be between 40 years and 400 years. The orbit of the planet is in roughly Keplerian motion around the star almost circular, but not entirely.
The Daily Mail is reported that the animation was created by Jason Wang, an astronomy graduate student at the University of California. They found it Berkeley based on eight observations of the four planets, dating back to 2009.
The new report has suggested that the objects have vastly different orbital periods, from 40 years to more than 400. This means that their individual orbital periods are in nearly precise ratio with the others.
The scientist team first imaged the HR 8799 planets. After additional observations in 2009-2010, the researchers discovered the fourth planet around HR 8799.
The research was conducted by Christian Maoris of the National Research council of Canada Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics. According to Many Worlds, they have analyzed the data.
The four planets may be "in resonance" with each other, meaning that each planet has an orbital period in nearly precise ratio with the others in the system, reported by Jason Wang, an astronomy graduate student at the University of California.
The scientist believes that the new technique allows artifacts of the data reduction process. This technique can be used to consider nuisances to better constraints the positions of the planet.
Meanwhile, the researchers continue to observe this system. They will watch to see if it is stable or if some of the planets will be ejected.
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