Planet candidate spotted around famous star
Astronomers have spotted a possible planet orbiting Vega, one of the brightest and most famous stars in the sky
The candidate alien planet – which still needs to be confirmed by follow-up observations or analyses – is roughly the size of Neptune and lies very close to Vega. It takes only 2.5
Earth days for the purported planet to make a single orbit around its sun. Thanks to that close proximity, the candidate planet’s surface temperature is probably around 2,976 degrees Celsius (5,390 degrees Fahrenheit), researchers calculated. That would make it the second-hottest planet known, if it does indeed exist. The hottest exoplanet, KELT-9b, is a whopping 4,300 degrees Celsius (7,800 degrees Fahrenheit).
Vega lies a mere 25 light years from Earth and sits relatively high in the northern sky, so follow-up studies of this potential planetary system are a real possibility. Scientists will seek to confirm the Neptune-sized world, and also hunt for other possible planets around the famous star, which is part of the constellation of Lyra. “This is a massive system, much larger than our own Solar System,” said Spencer Hurt, an undergraduate astronomy student at the
University of Colorado Boulder. “There could be other planets throughout that system. It’s just a matter of whether we can detect them.”
Team members spotted the candidate planet after looking at about ten years of data collected by the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory in Arizona. They saw a slight wobble in the star’s motion, suggesting that an orbiting planet is tugging on it gravitationally.
Astronomers have been hunting for planets around Vega for many years. Back in 2013 astronomers announced evidence of a huge asteroid belt circling the star, expressing hope that the find may eventually lead the way to spotting planets. The discovery team added that confirming planets may have to wait until after the launch of NASA’s powerful James Webb Space Telescope, which is scheduled to launch this October. That said, Vega is so bright that professional telescopes can see the star in the sky even when it’s daylight, allowing for flexible observations. Hurt said he and his colleagues are hoping to find direct light emissions from the planet in future studies to confirm its existence.
“There could be other planets. It’s just a matter of whether we can detect them” Spencer Hurt