Astronomers have discovered an unusual planet hidden at the edge of a galaxy using the space-time phenomenon that Albert Einstein originally predicted.
The exoplanet, known as At2021uey B, is a Jupiter-sized gas giant located approximately 3,200 light years from Earth. The location of the planet orbiting the small cool M dwarf star once every 4, 170 days is amazing. This is the third planet in the entire history of space observation, discovered far from the dense center of the Galaxy.
But perhaps more exceptional than the planet’s location is the way it is used to discover it. An effect known as microlenses occurs when the host star’s light is enlarged due to distortions in space-time due to planetary gravity. The researchers presented their presentation at the Journal Astronomy & Astrophysics on May 7th.
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“This kind of work requires a lot of expertise, patience and, frankly, a little luck,” co-author Marius Mascoliuna, an astronomer at Vilnius University in Lithuania, said in a statement. “We have to wait a long time to check the huge amount of data after the source star and lens object are aligned. 90% of the observed stars pulsate for a variety of other reasons, and few cases show microlens effects.”
Since the first exoplanet was detected in 1992, almost 6,000 alien worlds have been discovered beyond the solar system. Two most common detection methods, called transmit photometry and radial velocity, detect planets through the dimming of the host star as they pass in front of them.
The rarer method known as microlenses comes from Einstein’s theory of general relativity, and is produced by giant objects, distorting the fabric of the universe called spacetime. Gravity discovered by Einstein is not generated by invisible forces but by the curvature and distortion of space-time in the presence of matter and energy.
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This curved space determines how energy and matter moves it. Light moves in a straight line, but light travels through curved regions of space-time as well as light moves in a curved line. This means that when a planet passes in front of the host star, its gravity acts as a lens, expanding the star’s light and soaring its brightness.
“What fascinates me about this method is that I can detect those invisible bodies,” Muskriuna said essentially by measuring the shadows of the body. “Imagine a bird passing by you. You don’t see the bird itself, you don’t know what color it is – just its shadow. But then, with some probability, you can decide whether it’s a sparrow or a swan, and it’s a distance from us. It’s an incredibly interesting process.”
The AT2021UEY B space shadow was first discovered in 2021 with data taken by the European Space Agency’s Gaia Telescope, revealing its existence by instantaneous spikes in the host star’s brightness.
Astronomers then made detailed follow-up observations using Vilnius’ MolėTai Observatory, from which they calculated its source as a planet 1.3 times the mass of Jupiter. Its host star burns at about half our temperature, and the gas giant sits four times the distance of Earth from the sun.
Previous discoveries of Earth from the mid-Milky Way bulge in areas where the heavier elements needed to form planets are relatively sparse, according to researchers, provide fresh hints on where the planet is unlikely to be found.
“When the first planet around a sun-like star was discovered, there was a great surprise that this Jupiter-type planet was so close to it,” said Editor Stonkuto, another Vilnius University astronomer and leader of the Microlens Project, which found the planet, in a statement. “As data accumulates, we learned that many types of planetary systems are completely different from ours — the solar system. We had to rethink the planetary layer model multiple times.”
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