NEW YORK: Scientists discovered a “puffed up” exoplanet that is about 500 light years from Earth. The planet is the size of Jupiter and orbiting around the small host star, HATS-6.
The HATS-6 is classified an M-dwarf star. Scientists do not understand these stars well because they are dim due to being cool.
HATS-6 only emits 5 percent of the light that Earth’s Sun does. Scientists in Perth, Australia and Chile made follow-up observations.
Researchers working at the Australian National University (ANU) are fascinated by the planet. George Zhou, an astronomer at ANU says that the planet must have “migrated in” but their theories are unable to explain how this occurred.
Scientists believe that the star is approximately the size of Jupiter, according to Breaking News. Jupiter is the biggest planet in Earth’s solar system.
The discovery is mentioned in a study published recently in The Astronomical Journal. The researchers initially observed the planet when HATS-6’s light sometimes dimmed, implying that an object was moving between the Earth and the star, according to The Week.
Scientist now want to discover how such a gigantic planet could form such a tiny star. The astronomers’ guess is that planets form from dust and gas remaining in a ring around stars. However, HATS-6 is so tiny it would have had limited material remaining.
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