A team of researchers from different international institutions coordinated by astrophysicist Pierre Maxted , from Keele University, in the United Kingdom, has identified five new exoplanets located very close to their respective stars . In fact, according to these experts, the orbital periods of these extrasolar worlds, very similar to Jupiter – they correspond to a type of object known as hot Jupiter – vary between 2.17 and 5.75 days.
To confirm its existence, these scientists have used an instrument called WASP-South , which stands for Wide Angle Search for Planets-South. This is made up of eight cameras deployed at the South African Astronomical Observatory . In this way, they have been able to detect by photometry the transit of these extrasolar worlds before their stars. And it is that, when they do, you can see how the brightness of these diminishes.
The new worlds have been named WASP-119 b –located 1,086 light years–, WASP-124 b – 1,412 light years away–, WASP-126 b –a 763–, WASP-129 b –a 802– and WASP-133. b –a 1,784– , have a mass between 0.3 and 1.2 that of Jupiter and a radius that, on average, is 1.5 times that of this gas giant. Among them, probably the most relevant from a scientific point of view is WASP-126 b , since, of the five, it is the one that orbits the brightest star . This, in the opinion of astronomers, means that it may be a good candidate to try to find out whether or not it has an atmosphere and its possible nature and composition.
Image: NASA / ESA / G. Bacon
