Discovery of two new planets eerily similar to Jupiter and Neptune
Two gas giants have been found orbiting a "twin" star to the Sun. This discovery could help astronomers find planets where life is possible.
A planet is by definition a non-luminous celestial body by itself that orbits a star . Several systems other than the solar system exist in the universe . Recently, astronomers found two new planets orbiting a star. It could be a discovery like any other, but this system looks strangely like ours : the two planets, gas giants, resemble Jupiter and Neptune , note the researchers on the pre-publication site of the arXiv studies . And the star is reminiscent of the Sun , so much so that scientists call it a “solar twin” .
To find this system, astronomers used in 2014 the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) of the La Silla telescope of the European Southern Observatory in the Atacama desert in Chile.
The star named HIP 104045 is only 175 light years from our planet. Its metal content is very similar to that of the Sun. It is about 4.5 billion years old, compared to 4.57 billion years for our star. Also, HIP 104045 is only 1.03 times the mass of the Sun, 1.05 times its radius and has 1.11 times its luminosity.
Concerning its planets, the first is in orbit of 6.3 years around it, with a mass which represents half that of Jupiter . The orbit of the second is counted in days: 316 according to the authors. It has a mass 2.5 times that of Neptune .
Searching for Jupiters to find Earths
Studying this system is important because it allows astronomers to understand the variety of planets that may orbit stars near the Sun. It could also help highlight Earth -like planets .
"The analogues of Jupiter form preferentially around stars with metallicities (mass fraction of a star that is not made up of hydrogen or helium, editor's note) close to the Sun, and surprisingly, planets of low Potentially habitable masses could be common around stars that host a cold Jupiter ," they write.
For the authors, looking for twins of Jupiter could thus help to find planets where life is possible, they conclude.
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