CoRoT-20 b

CoRoT-20b is a new planet that baffles astronomers by defying current theories for how planets form. It orbits close to a sunlike star, according to National Geographic.

The planet, which is four-fifths the size of Jupiter, was discovered 4,000 light-years away, and reported by a French site MaxiSciences. CoRoT-20b is thought to be a gas giant and, despite its relatively small size, it has four times Jupiter’s mass, making it one of the densest known planets.

If the new dense planet has the same structure as a traditional gas giant — a solid core surrounded by a gassy atmosphere — the planet’s core would make up 50% to 77% of its total mass. Jupiter’s core, on the other hand, represents only 15% of its own mass.

The host star CoRoT 20 has an apparent magnitude of 14.7, with an absolute magnitude of 4.21. It is 1.14 times more massive and 0.92 times bigger than our sun. The surface temperature is 5880 K which means its spectral type is G2V. In this planetary system, the extrasolar planet CoRoT 20 b orbits around the host star at an orbital distance of 0.0902.

Journal Articles

1.) Transiting exoplanets from the CoRoT space mission XX. CoRoT-20b: A very high density, high eccentricity transiting giant planet

https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2012/02/aa17681-11/aa17681-11.html

WEB Articles

1.) CoRoT-20b: new planet found

https://www.pri.org/stories/2012-02-24/corot-20b-new-planet-found

EPIC 220674823

Two transiting planets have been identified orbiting K2 target EPIC 220674823, or an alternative name, K2-106. One object is an ultra-short-period planet (USP) with an orbital period of just 0.57 days (13.7 hours), while the other has a period of 13.3 days. Both planets are small, with the former having a radius of Rp1 = 1.5 R⊕ and the latter Rp2 = 2.5 R⊕. Follow-up observations, including radial velocity (with uncertainties of 110 ms −1 ) and high-resolution adaptive optics imagery, show no signs of stellar companions. EPIC 220674823 is the 12th confirmed or validated planetary system in which an ultra-short-period planet (i.e., having an orbital period less than 1 day) is accompanied by at least one additional planet, suggesting that such systems may be common and must be accounted for in models for the formation and evolution of such extreme systems.

For more information about EPIC 220674823, please visit the ExoKyoto database:

http://www.exoplanetkyoto.org/exohtml/EPIC_220674823.html

For more information about the exoplanets orbiting EPIC 220674823, please visit the following pages:

http://www.exoplanetkyoto.org/exohtml/K2-106_b.html

http://www.exoplanetkyoto.org/exohtml/K2-106_c.html

Journal Articles

1.) ULTRA SHORT PERIOD PLANETS IN K2 WITH COMPANIONS: A DOUBLE TRANSITING SYSTEM FOR EPIC 220674823

2.) The high-resolution cross-dispersed echelle white-pupil spectrometer of the McDonald Observatory 2.7-m telescope

WEB Articles

1.) EPIC 220674823

http://www.openexoplanetcatalogue.com/planet/EPIC%20220674823%20b/

CoRoT-27 b

Parviainen H. et al. (2014) reported the discovery of a massive high-density planet on a close-in 3.58 day orbit around a 4.2 billion-year-old Sun-like star. The planet has been identified as CoRoT-27b. Like Jupiter, CoRoT-27b is a gas-giant. It was detected by the CoRoT space telescope using the transit method, in which a planet periodically transits its host star and blocks a small fraction of the star’s light. CoRoT-27b weighs in at 10.39 ± 0.55 Jupiter-mass and has 1.01 ± 0.04 times the radius of Jupiter. This gives CoRoT-27b a mean density of 12.6 times the density of water, which is more than twice the mean density of Earth and almost 10 times the mean density of Jupiter.

Like Jupiter, CoRoT-27b is a gaseous planet comprised primarily of hydrogen and helium. The structure and composition of CoRoT-27b can be inferred from two models. For the first model, the planet is assumed to be made of a central rocky core surrounded by an extensive hydrogen-helium envelope. The first model is consistent with a heavy element mass fraction of 0.11, representing a core mass of 366 Earth-masses. For the second model, a central rocky core is absent and the heavy elements are present throughout the hydrogen-helium envelope. The second model is consistent with a heavy element mass fraction of 0.07, representing a heavy element mass of 219 Earth-masses.

Given its high mass, gravity on the surface of CoRoT-27b is 27 times the surface gravity on Earth. Technically, CoRoT-27b does not have a surface since it is gaseous throughout, right down to a central rocky core, if one is present. Being so near its host star, the equilibrium temperature on CoRoT-27b is estimated to be 1500 ± 130 K. The discovery of CoRoT-27b is an important addition to a scarcely populated class of massive close-in planets.

The host star CoRoT 27 has an apparent magnitude of 15.5, with an absolute magnitude of 25.00. It is 1.05 times more massive and 1.08 times larger compared to our sun. The surface temperature is 5900 K and it has a spectral type of G2. In this planetary system, the extrasolar planet CoRoT 27 b orbits around the star CoRoT 27 at an orbital distance of 0.0476.

Journal Articles

1.) Transiting exoplanets from the CoRoT space mission XXV. CoRoT-27b: a massive and dense planet on a short-period orbit?

WEB Articles

1.) CoRoT-27b: A Massive and Dense Planet

2.) CoRoT-27b, a massive, dense planet on a short-period orbit about a G-type star.

GJ 9827 c

(Imaginary Picture of GJ9827 c: Ryusuke Kuroki, Fuka Takagi & Yosuke A. Yamashiki)

GJ9827 (also known as K2-135) is a K6 type star (with a surface temperature of 4255K, a mass and radius about 0.7 times that of our Sun) about 100 light-years away from the Earth. It was discovered by the transit method during the K2 mission (the second mission of the Kepler Space Telescope). Scientists found three Super-Earths (planets with a mass and radius several times that of the Earth) orbiting the star, reported in the Astronomical Journal published in February 2018. These three Super-Earths (GJ9827b, GJ9827c, GJ9827d in order of closeness to the host star) have radii of 1.62 times, 1.27 times, and 2.07 times the Earth, and their orbits around the host star are 1.2 days, 3.6 days, and 6.2 days, respectively.

The planet is a suitable candidate for more detailed observation of its planetary atmosphere using the James Web Space Telescope (JWST), which will be launched in a few years. These observations of Super-Earth atmospheres are said to be the key to understanding the atmospheric and internal structure of these types of planets, which are located at the boundary between the terrestrial planets (rocky planets) and gaseous planets, such as Jupiter. This is why the GJ9827 planetary system is so promising.

Journal Articles

1.) A System of Three Super Earths Transiting the Late K-Dwarf GJ 9827 at 30 pc

2.) Mass determination of the 1:3:5 near-resonant planets transiting GJ 9827 (K2-135)

3.) HD 106315 and GJ 9827: Understanding the Formation and Evolution of Small Planets

WEB Articles

1.) Planet GJ 9827 c

2.) THREE POSSIBLE SUPER-EARTHS DISCOVERED AROUND NEARBY SUN-LIKE STAR

3.) Planetary System GJ 9827, Secrets Of Far-Away Super-Earth