Extrasolar planet tagged posts

Phase-folded K2 light curve of EPIC 228735255 (black points) with best-fit model plotted as a solid red line. Top panel: Full phase light curve with the transit of EPIC 228735255b. There are no other significant dips indicating any other transits. Middle panel: Zoom-in of the transit of EPIC 228735255b and the resulting residuals from it and the model fit. Bottom panel: Zoom-in around phase 0.5. There is no indication of an observable secondary eclipse. Credit: Giles et al., 2017.

An international team has identified a new extrasolar planet from the data provided by Kepler spacecraft’s prolonged mission known as K2. EPIC 228735255b, is a “hot Jupiter” on an eccentric orbit around its parent star...

An artist’s rendering shows the planet HD 20782, the most eccentric planet ever known, passing its star in close orbit. Credit: NASA

Extrasolar planet swings around its star like it’s a comet. Led by SF State Uni astronomer Stephen Kane, a team has spotted an extrasolar planet about 117 light-years from earth that boasts the most eccentric orbit yet seen. They detected a signal of reflected light from the planet HD 20782 – a “flash” of starlight bouncing off the eccentric planet’s atmosphere as it made its closest orbital approach to its star.

In this case, “eccentric” refers to how elliptical a planet’s orbit is around its star...