In recent years, the number of known extrasolar planets (aka. exoplanets) has grown exponentially. To date, 5,799 exoplanets have been confirmed in 4,

Exoplanet Discovered in a Binary System Could Explain Why Red Dwarfs Form Massive Planets

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2024-10-17 19:30:08

In recent years, the number of known extrasolar planets (aka. exoplanets) has grown exponentially. To date, 5,799 exoplanets have been confirmed in 4,310 star systems, with thousands more candidates awaiting confirmation. What has been particularly interesting to astronomers is how M-type (red dwarf) stars appear to be very good at forming rocky planets. In particular, astronomers have detected many gas giants and planets that are several times the mass of Earth (Super-Earths) orbiting these low-mass, cooler stars.

Consider TOI-6383A, a cool dwarf star less than half the mass of the Sun that orbits with an even smaller, cooler companion – the red dwarf star TOI-6383B. In a recent study, an international team of astronomers with the Searching for Giant Exoplanets around M-dwarf Stars (GEMS) survey detected a giant planet transiting in front of the primary star, designated TOI-6383Ab. This planet is similar in size and mass to the system’s companion star, which raises questions about the formation of giant planets in red dwarf star systems.

The team was led by Lia Marta Bernabò, a PhD astronomy student at the University of Texas at Austin (UTA) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR). She was joined by colleagues with the GEMS collaboration, which includes astronomers from the Center for Planetary Systems Habitability, the Carnegie Science Earth and Planets Laboratory, the Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds, the ETH Zurich Institute for Particle Physics & Astrophysics, the Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, NOIRLab, the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and multiple universities and institutes. The paper that details their findings was recently accepted for publication by the Astronomical Journal.