(NLDO) - TOI-3261b is located in the constellation Hydrus and belongs to a type of planet that is thought to be impossible to form.
A research team led by Dr. Emma Nabbie from the University of Southern Queensland (Australia) discovered the presence of the strange exoplanet TOI-3261b from the huge dataset sent back to Earth by NASA's "exoplanet hunter" TESS.
Combined with additional observations from several ground-based observatories, they found that TOI-3261b belongs to a rare exoplanetary world known as a "hot desert Neptune."
Planet TOI-3261b is like Neptune but extremely hot - Photo: NASA
According to Sci-News, "Neptune hot desert" is a term used to describe a group of exoplanets that are about the same size as Neptune in the Solar System, but are extremely hot because they are located close to their parent star.
This is one of the rarest types of planets among the myriad of extrasolar planets that humanity has identified.
The reason it's rare is because it's very difficult for a planet to maintain such a thick atmosphere so close to a star, according to a paper published in the Astronomical Journal . Hot Neptune is essentially a gas planet, so its atmosphere must be thick.
“Massive stars exert large gravitational forces on their surroundings, which can strip away the gas layers surrounding a nearby planet,” the authors explain.
So it seems almost implausible that TOI-3261b could exist in that state, according to conventional theory.
Its precious discovery once again shows how complex and diverse the models of planet formation in the universe can be.
Studying how this planet retains its atmosphere will be an interesting task for scientists to pursue in the future.
TOI-3261b is located 978.5 light years from Earth, is 3.82 times the size of Earth but 30 times more massive, or about twice the mass of "cold Neptunes" like our own Neptune.
This planet orbits its parent star TOI-3261 with a period of only 21 hours, meaning that 1 year on this world is less than 1 day on Earth.
Source: https://nld.com.vn/lo-dien-hanh-tinh-moi-cuc-hiem-1-nam-bang-21-gio-trai-dat-196241202094030897.htm
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