Posted on 11/17/2019 11:41:17 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Astronomers have discovered a massive exoplanet orbiting Gliese 3512 (GJ 3512), an M-dwarf star (red dwarf) located 31 light-years away. Dubbed Gliese 3512b, the planet has a mass of 0.46 Jupiter masses, very high for such a small host star, and an eccentric 204-day orbit. Using simulations, the researchers have also demonstrated that the Gliese 3512 planetary system challenges generally accepted theories of planet formation.
M-dwarf stars are low-mass stars that emit most of their faint light in the near-infrared. They the most common type of star in the Milky Way. However, despite their ubiquity, only about 10% of nearly 4,000 exoplanets discovered to date orbit these stars.
"Around such stars there should only be planets the size of the Earth or somewhat more massive super-Earths," said University of Bern's Professor Christoph Mordasini, co-author of a paper published in the journal Science.
"Gliese 3512b, however, is a giant planet with a mass about half as big as the one of Jupiter, and thus at least one order of magnitude more massive than the planets predicted by theoretical models for such small stars."
"Although we know about 4,000 planets outside the Solar System, there are still discoveries which bring new surprises. The planet around Gliese 3512 is one of those," said Georg-August-Universität's Professor Stefan Dreizler.
To discover Gliese 3512b, Professor Mordasini, Professor Dreizler and their colleagues used the Doppler technique, which monitors the back-and-forth motion of a star when it is orbited by one or more exoplanets.
They also found evidence suggesting the presence of another candidate planet in the system.
"Gliese 3512 was so faint that it almost did not make it into the list of targets," they said.
(Excerpt) Read more at sci-news.com ...
An artist's impression of a Jupiter-like exoplanet and a cool red dwarf. Image credit: CARMENES / RenderArea / J. Bollain / C. Gallego
The distances being what they are, even with improvements to technology over time, oddball systems will be disproportionately discovered.
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IBTUJ
In before the Uranus jokes.
Since we clearly know everything there is to about planet formation, this system doesn’t exist. It’s an undigested bit of beef, or a fragment of underdone potato stuck in the telescope’s lens.
[Massive Gas Giant ]
must ... resist ... jokes ...
Massive gas giant in orbit around Red Dwarf”
That’s Dave Lister after Kryten and Cat pitched him out ‘til his Chicken Vindaloo passes..,
“Generally accepted theories of planet formation.”
Aliens laugh at us.
I know right.
I’m appalled by the immaturity on these threads.
That being said, we really can’t DISPROVE that there is an alien of MAGNIFICENT proportion and size that eats BILLIONS or maybe TRILLIONS of franks and beans at at time...and the result is...
LOL! If you say so, boss.
That is somehow considered a “SCIENCE” report?
Enough “maybe’s” and “should’s” to fill URANUS....
I thought that this thread was going to be about Michael Moore and Robert Reich.
Excellent!
LOL!
And probably not just about this. :^)
Saturn, the second-most massive planet in our solar system, has less than one third Jupiter's mass.
Yes, I wholeheartedly agree. Now pull my finger.
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