An international team of astronomers has announced the discovery of a very interesting exoplanet. Earth is called TOI-1452 b and orbits a small star in a binary system just 100 light-years from Earth. The planet appears to be slightly larger and heavier than Earth, but its surface is thought to be covered with water.
As reported in The Astrophysical Journal, the team estimates that 30 percent of the planet is made up of water. This rate is quite large compared to the rate found on Earth. The planet orbits the dwarf star in 11 days, which puts it in the habitable zone where water is expected to exist in liquid, frozen, and vapor form. If this study’s predictions are correct, this planet will likely be covered by a thick ocean.
“TOI-1452 b is one of the best ocean planet candidates we’ve found to date,” said lead author Charles Cadieux of the Université de Montréal. indicates a low density.”
The first observations were made by NASA’s planet-hunting telescope TESS. The observatory reported a candidate object orbiting one of the stars in this binary system, about 70 percent larger than Earth. The following observations allowed the team to decipher what the planet might be like.
“The OMM [Mont-Mégantic Observatory in Quebec] played a very important role in confirming the nature of this signal and estimating the radius of the planet,” says Cadieux. We needed to make sure it was caused by an exoplanet surrounding TOI-1452, the largest of the two stars.”
The binary system consists of two red dwarf stars smaller and dimmer than our Sun. These two stars are 14.5 billion kilometers apart, which is about 2.5 times the distance between Pluto and the Sun. The Earth-based observatory was able to see the two stars as separate objects (which TESS couldn’t), and subsequent observations by a Japanese team allowed them to confirm that the planet was indeed there.
René Doyon, professor at Université de Montréal and director of the Exoplanet Research Institute (iREx) and OMM, said: “I am extremely proud of this discovery because it demonstrates the high caliber of our researchers and tools. We were able to detect this one-of-a-kind exoplanet, thanks to OMM, a special instrument designed in our labs called SPIrou, and an innovative analytical method developed by our research team.”
Given its relative proximity and features, this planet may be an ideal candidate for further observation by JWST.
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