Two worlds orbiting a tiny star 218 light-years apart look like a different kind than the one in our solar system.
The exoplanets are named Kepler-138c and Kepler-138d. Both are about 1.5 times the radius of the Earth, and both look like sticky worlds with thick, steamy atmospheres and very deep oceans.
“Previously, planets slightly larger than Earth were thought to be large spheres of metal and rock, like a magnified version of Earth, so we called them super-Earths.” Astronomer Bjorn Beneke says of the University of Montreal.
“However, we found that these two planets, Kepler-138c and d, are quite different in nature. It is possible that most of their overall volume is composed of water. We have not observed planets that we can identify with confidence.” This is the first time we’ve done it, the type of planet long theorized by astronomers to exist as a world of water.”
A recent analysis of another world maybe the world of water, but follow-up observations are needed to confirm.According to researchers, their study Kepler 138’s Two oceanic planets are less uncertain.
Finding out which planets (or exoplanets) are made up of our extrasolar system usually requires considerable research work. They are very distant and very faint compared to the light of the stars they orbit. Direct images are very hard to come by and then very rare and don’t give much detail.
Configuration of exoplanet Density is usually calculated using two measurements and inferred from the density.
The amount of starlight blocked by the transit will tell you the size of the exoplanet to gain radius. Radial velocity is caused by the gravitational pull of exoplanets. This is seen as a regular but negligible stretching of wavelengths as starlight is attracted. The amplitude of this motion gives us the mass of the exoplanet.
Once you know the size and mass of an object, you can calculate its density.
a gas world like Jupiter Or even Neptune, which has a relatively low density. Rocky worlds rich in metals are denser.at 5.5 grams per cubic centimeter, Earth is the densest planet in the solar system. Saturn is the least dense, at 0.69 grams per cubic centimeter.
Transit data show that the radii of Kepler-138c and Kepler-138d are 1.51 times that of Earth, and measuring the respective tugs of Kepler-138 yields masses 2.3 and 2.1 times that of Earth, respectively. These properties then give us a density of about 3.6 grams per cubic centimeter in both worlds. This is somewhere between rock and gas composition.
That’s pretty close to Jupiter’s icy moons Europa, has a density of 3.0 grams per cubic centimeter. It happens to be covered by a liquid global ocean beneath an ice shell.
“Imagine a larger version of Europa or Enceladus, the water-rich moons orbiting Jupiter and Saturn. Astrophysicist Caroline Piole says “Instead of an icy surface, Kepler-138c and d harbor large water vapor envelopes,” said the University of Montreal, who led the study.
According to the team’s modeling, water makes up more than 50% of the exoplanet’s volume and extends to depths of about 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles).For context, the average depth of the Earth’s oceans is 3.7 kg (2.3 miles).
But Kepler-138c and Kepler-138d are much closer to the stars than to Earth.Their stars are small, cold red dwarfs, but their proximity makes the two exoplanets much hotter than our world. 13th and 23rdEach.
This means that the oceans and atmospheres of these worlds are likely not very similar to ours, researchers say.
“The temperatures in the atmospheres of Kepler-138c and Kepler-138d are likely above the boiling point of water, and we expect these planets to have thick, dense atmospheres of water vapor.” Piole says.
“Only under that vaporous atmosphere can there be high-pressure liquid water, or even another phase of water that occurs at high pressures called supercritical fluids.”
Alien for sure.
This research natural astronomy.
