Saturn Sized Exoplanet: A Leap in Astronomy

The search for exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system, has been one of the most exciting and fruitful fields of astronomy in recent decades. With the help of powerful telescopes and instruments, astronomers have detected thousands of exoplanets of various sizes, masses, orbits and compositions, revealing the diversity and complexity of planetary systems in our galaxy. Some of these exoplanets are especially intriguing because they challenge our understanding of how planets form and evolve, and what conditions are necessary for life to emerge and thrive.

One such exoplanet is TOI-1135 b, a new Saturn-sized exoplanet that has been discovered orbiting a young solar-type star by an international team of astronomers. The discovery was detailed in a paper published on February 27 on the pre-print server arXiv.

TOI-1135 b: A Young Hot Saturn

TOI-1135 b was detected by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which monitors the brightness of stars to look for periodic dips caused by planets passing in front of them. The transit signal of TOI-1135 b was confirmed by follow-up photometry and spectroscopy from ground-based telescopes.

The planet has a radius of about 0.8 Jupiter radii and a mass of about 0.062 Jupiter masses, making it comparable in size to Saturn, but much less massive than the solar system’s two biggest gas giants. The planet orbits its host star, TOI-1135, every 8.02 days at a distance of 0.082 astronomical units (AU), or about one-fifth of the distance between Earth and the sun. The host star is a young solar-type star of spectral type G0, slightly larger and more massive than the sun, with an age estimated between 125 million and 1 billion years.

The close proximity to the star makes TOI-1135 b a very hot planet, with an equilibrium temperature estimated between 950 and 1,200 Kelvin (677 and 927 degrees Celsius). As a result, the planet is highly inflated, with a low density of 0.16 grams per cubic centimeter. The planet also has an extended atmosphere that is most likely being stripped away by the intense stellar radiation. The astronomers estimate that the planet has a high mass-loss rate of about 39 Earth masses per one billion years, meaning that it will eventually lose most of its atmosphere in a few hundred million years.

Implications for Planetary Evolution and Atmospheres

The discovery of TOI-1135 b is important for several reasons. First, it adds to the growing population of Saturn-sized exoplanets, which are relatively rare compared to smaller or larger planets. Saturn-sized exoplanets are interesting because they may represent a transitional stage between gas giants like Jupiter and Neptune and rocky planets like Earth and Mars. Understanding how these planets form and evolve can shed light on the origin and diversity of planetary systems.

Second, TOI-1135 b is one of the youngest exoplanets known to date, which makes it a valuable target for studying how planets change over time. In particular, TOI-1135 b may provide clues on how planets lose their atmospheres due to stellar irradiation, a process that may have affected many planets in our own solar system and beyond.

Third, TOI-1135 b is a promising candidate for atmospheric characterization with future missions such as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). By observing the planet’s transit across different wavelengths of light, astronomers can probe the composition, structure and dynamics of its atmosphere, and look for signs of water, methane or other molecules that may indicate its origin or habitability.

Conclusion:

TOI-1135 b is a new Saturn-sized exoplanet that orbits a young solar-type star at a very close distance. The planet is hot, inflated and losing its atmosphere due to stellar radiation. The discovery of this planet opens new possibilities for studying planetary evolution and atmospheres with current and future telescopes.

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