An international team of 62 astronomers led by Hans Deeg, from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), has discoveredoutside the solar systemthefirst planet similar in size to Jupiterand with relatively moderate temperatures that orbits a star similar to the Sun. NamedCorot-9b, after being discovered by theCoRoT space satellite, the exoplanet is 1,500 light years from Earth, in the constellation of the Serpent. The discovery is published in the magazineNature.
As Hans Deeg explains, “Corot-9bit is the first exoplanet certainly similar to one in our Solar System. “The new planet maintains a relatively large distance from its central star, similar to the orbit of Mercury around the Sun. The temperature at its gaseous surface isbetween 150 degrees Celsius and about 20 below zero, with minimal variations between day and night. Its temperature would also depend on the possible presence of ahighly reflective cloud cover. Its solid interior would have a mass of up to20 land masses, very similar to that of Jupiter.
The transit method
The information about Corot-9b is greater than that of other similar planets thanks to its transits , which occur when a celestial body blocks some light as it passes in front of its host star. So far more than 400 exoplanets have been discovered, of which about 70 have been found by the transit method.
According to Brandon Tingley, co-author of the study, Corot-9b “may lead to a better understanding of these very common planets and open a new field to understand the atmosphere of planets with moderate or low temperatures,” he says.
The temperate gas giants make up the largest group of planets known to date, and Corot-9b is the first to allow their study in greater detail.
