Scientists have discovered six new exoplanets, taking the total to 5,502. With advancements in technology, the field of On August 24, 2023, over three decades after the first confirmation of planets beyond our own solar system, scientists announced the discovery of six new exoplanets, stretching that number to 5,502. From zero exoplanet confirmations to over 5,500 in just a few decades, this new milestone marks another major step in the journey to understand the worlds beyond our solar system.
The discovery: With the discovery of six new exoplanets, scientists have tipped the scales and surpassed 5,500 exoplanets found (there are now 5,502 known exoplanets, to be exact).
Just about 31 years ago, in 1992, the first exoplanets were confirmed when scientists detected twin planets Poltergeist and Phobetor orbiting the
Details: HD 36384 b is a super-
- Planets were both discovered using the transit method.
- Are close enough to their star that they are likely more similar to
- This planet was discovered using the transit method.
- Completes an orbit every 1.52 days, meaning it is very close to its star. While it is extremely rare for giant planets like this to orbit so closely to Sun-like stars, it is even rarer for them to orbit M-dwarf stars as is the case here.
MWC 758 c is a giant protoplanet that orbits a very young star. This star still has its protoplanetary disk, which is a rotating disc of gas and dust that can surround a young star.
- This planet was discovered using direct imaging.
- Was found carving spiral arms into its star’s protoplanetary disk.
- Is one of the first exoplanets discovered in a system where the star has a protoplanetary disk.
The field of exoplanet science has exploded since the first exoplanet confirmation in 1992, and with evolving technology, the future for this field looks brighter than ever.
In March 2022,
NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (according to the 2020 Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics.
The discoverers: These six exoplanets were discovered by different teams as part of five separate studies:
- TOI-4860 b
“An M dwarf accompanied by a close-in giant orbiter with SPECULOOS” by Amaury H M J Triaud, Georgina Dransfield, Taiki Kagetani, Mathilde Timmermans, Norio Narita, Khalid Barkaoui, Teruyuki Hirano, Benjamin V Rackham, Mayuko Mori, Thomas Baycroft, Zouhair Benkhaldoun, Adam J Burgasser, Douglas A Caldwell, Karen A Collins, Yasmin T Davis, Laetitia Delrez, Brice-Oliver Demory, Elsa Ducrot, Akihiko Fukui, Clàudia Jano Muñoz, Emmanuël Jehin, Lionel J García, Mourad Ghachoui, Michaël Gillon, Yilen Gómez Maqueo Chew, Matthew J Hooton, Masahiro Ikoma, Kiyoe Kawauchi, Takayuki Kotani, Alan M Levine, Enric Pallé, Peter P Pedersen, Francisco J Pozuelos, Didier Queloz, Owen J Scutt, Sara Seager, Daniel Sebastian, Motohide Tamura, Samantha Thompson, Noriharu Watanabe, Julien de Wit, Joshua N Winn and Sebastián Zúñiga-Fernández, 4 August 2023, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters.
DOI: 10.1093/mnrasl/slad097 - TOI-2095 b & c
“Two super-Earths at the edge of the habitable zone of the nearby M dwarf TOI-2095” by F. Murgas, A. Castro-González, E. Pallé, F. J. Pozuelos, S. Millholland, O. Foo, J. Korth, E. Marfil, P. J. Amado, J. A. Caballero, J. L. Christiansen, D. R. Ciardi, K. A. Collins, M. Di Sora, A. Fukui, T. Gan, E. J. Gonzales, Th. Henning, E. Herrero, G. Isopi, J. M. Jenkins, J. Lillo-Box, N. Lodieu, R. Luque, F. Mallia, J. C. Morales, G. Morello, N. Narita, J. Orell-Miquel, H. Parviainen, M. Pérez-Torres, A. Quirrenbach, A. Reiners, I. Ribas, B. S. Safonov, S. Seager, R. P. Schwarz, A. Schweitzer, M. Schlecker, I. A. Strakhov, S. Vanaverbeke, N. Watanabe, J. N. Winn and M. Zechmeister, Accepted, Astronomy & Astrophysics.
arXiv:2304.09220 - HD 36384 b
“A Search for Exoplanets around Northern Circumpolar Stars. VIII. Filtering Out a Planet Cycle from the Multi-Period Radial Velocity Variations in M Giant HD 36384” by Byeong-Cheol Lee, Gwanghui Jeong, Jae-Rim Koo, Beomdu Lim, Myeong-Gu Park, Tae-Yang Bang, Yeon-Ho Choi, Hyeong-Ill Oh and Inwoo Han, 22 August 2023, Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society.
DOI: 10.5303/JKAS.2023.56.2.195 - TOI-198 b
“Characterization of a Set of Small Planets with TESS and CHEOPS and an Analysis of Photometric Performance” by Dominic Oddo, Diana Dragomir, Alexis Brandeker, Hugh P. Osborn, Karen Collins, Keivan G. Stassun, Nicola Astudillo-Defru, Allyson Bieryla, Steve B. Howell, David R. Ciardi, Samuel Quinn, Jose M. Almenara, César Briceño, Kevin I. Collins, Knicole D. Colón, Dennis M. Conti, Nicolas Crouzet, Elise Furlan, Tianjun Gan, Crystal L. Gnilka, Robert F. Goeke, Erica Gonzales, Mallory Harris, Jon M. Jenkins, Eric L. N. Jensen, David Latham, Nicholas Law, Michael B. Lund, Andrew W. Mann, Bob Massey, Felipe Murgas, George Ricker, Howard M. Relles, Pamela Rowden, Richard P. Schwarz, Joshua Schlieder, Avi Shporer, Sara Seager, Gregor Srdoc, Guillermo Torres, Joseph D. Twicken, Roland Vanderspek, Joshua N. Winn and Carl Ziegler, 28 February 2023, The Astronomical Journal.
DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/acb4e3 - MWC 758 c
“Direct images and spectroscopy of a giant protoplanet driving spiral arms in MWC 758” byKevin Wagner, Jordan Stone, Andrew Skemer, Steve Ertel, Ruobing Dong, Dániel Apai, Eckhart Spalding, Jarron Leisenring, Michael Sitko, Kaitlin Kratter, Travis Barman, Mark Marley, Brittany Miles, Anthony Boccaletti, Korash Assani, Ammar Bayyari, Taichi Uyama, Charles E. Woodward, Phil Hinz, Zackery Briesemeister, Kellen Lawson, François Ménard, Eric Pantin, Ray W. Russell, Michael Skrutskie and John Wisniewski, 6 July 2023, Nature Astronomy.
DOI: 10.1038/s41550-023-02028-3