ESO: New Exoplanet Survey Finds Its First Planet

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ESO: New Exoplanet Survey Finds Its First Planet

Post by bystander » Tue Oct 31, 2017 2:56 pm

New Exoplanet Survey Finds Its First Planet
ESO NGST Announcement | 2017 Oct 31
[img3="Image Credit: University of Warwick/Mark Garlick"]https://cdn.eso.org/images/screen/ann17076a.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]
The Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS) instrument at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in northern Chile has found its first exoplanet, a hot Jupiter orbiting an M-dwarf star now named NGTS-1. The planet, NGTS-1b, is only the third gas giant to have been observed transiting an M-dwarf star, following Kepler-45b and HATS-6b. NGTS-1b is the largest and most massive of these three, with a radius of 130% and a mass of 80% those of Jupiter.

The NGTS uses an array of twelve 20-centimetre telescopes to search for the tiny dips in the brightness of a star caused when a planet in orbit around it passes in front of it (“transits”) and blocks some of its light. Once NGTS-1b had been discovered its existence was confirmed by follow-up observations at ESO’s La Silla Observatory: photometric observations with EulerCam on the 1.2-metre Swiss Leonhard Euler Telescope; and spectroscopic investigations with the HARPS instrument on ESO’s 3.6-metre telescope.

Small planets are relatively common around M-dwarf stars, whereas gas giants like NGTS-1b appear to be rarer around M-dwarfs than they are around stars more like the Sun. This is consistent with current theories of planet formation, but observations of more M-dwarfs are needed before a clear understanding of the numbers of giant planets around them can be arrived at. The NGTS is specifically designed to provide better data on planets around M-dwarf stars, and since they account for around 75% of stars in the Milky Way, studying them will help astronomers to understand the majority population of planets in the Galaxy.

The future could be very exciting for this exoplanet system as it has the potential to be studied in greater detail by the suite of instruments on board the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) which is due to be launched in 2019.

The Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS) - Peter J. Wheatley et al NGTS-1b: A Hot Jupiter Transiting an M-Dwarf - Daniel Bayliss et al
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Warwick: 'Monster' Planet Discovery Challenges Formation Theory

Post by bystander » Tue Oct 31, 2017 5:31 pm

'Monster' Planet Discovery Challenges Formation Theory
University of Warwick | 2017 Oct 31
  • A giant planet – the existence of which previously thought extremely unlikely – discovered around a small star by an international collaboration of astronomers, with University of Warwick taking a leading role
  • NGTS-1b is the largest planet compared to the size of its companion star ever discovered in universe – contradicts theories that a planet of this size could not be formed by such a small star
  • Discovered using the state-of-the-art Next-Generation Transit Survey observing facility, designed to search for transiting planets on bright stars
  • NGTS-1b is 600 light years away from us – it is a gas giant the size of Jupiter which orbits a star only half the size of our Sun
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk.
— Garrison Keillor

HiYoSilver

Re: Warwick: 'Monster' Planet Discovery Challenges Formation Theory

Post by HiYoSilver » Wed Nov 01, 2017 11:08 pm

bystander wrote:'Monster' Planet Discovery Challenges Formation Theory
University of Warwick | 2017 Oct 31
  • A giant planet – the existence of which previously thought extremely unlikely – discovered around a small star by an international collaboration of astronomers, with University of Warwick taking a leading role
  • NGTS-1b is the largest planet compared to the size of its companion star ever discovered in universe – contradicts theories that a planet of this size could not be formed by such a small star
  • Discovered using the state-of-the-art Next-Generation Transit Survey observing facility, designed to search for transiting planets on bright stars
  • NGTS-1b is 600 light years away from us – it is a gas giant the size of Jupiter which orbits a star only half the size of our Sun
Who says it was formed by the star?

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