The Orion's Arm Universe Project Forums





Exoplanet Discoveries and Updates
#6
In case if anybody missed the news that's been flying around, here's a Jovian-type planet circling a tiny red dwarf star. It even comes with a sibling.

GJ 3512 b
Semi-major axis: 0.3380 AU
Orbital period: 203.59 days
Eccentricity: 0.4356
Minimum mass: 0.463 Jupiters
Discovery announcement: 26 Sep 2019

Also, a second planet candidate has been detected in this system as well, receiving the designation GJ 3512 c.

GJ 3512 c
Semi-major axis: 1.2 AU
Orbital period: >1,390 days
Minimum mass: >0.17 Jupiters
Discovery announcement: 26 Sep 2019

The discovery of GJ 3512 b was a complete surprise due to how massive it is compared to its parent star, which is only 250 times more massive than the planet itself. This meant this planet couldn't have formed by the usual planetary formation method, core accretion. The alternate method, disk instability, is instead put forward as an alternative. Notably, previous research suggested that disk instability planets tend to be more massive than 4 Jupiter masses.
Reply


Messages In This Thread
RE: Exoplanet Discoveries and Updates - by The Astronomer - 10-12-2019, 09:37 AM

Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)