Latest news with #TransitingExoplanetSurveySatellite
Dubai Eye
11-06-2025
- Science
- Dubai Eye
UAE astronomers detect exoplanets orbiting distant stars
Astronomers in the UAE have detected exoplanets orbiting stars far beyond the solar system, the Abu Dhabi-based International Astronomy Centre announced. Al Khatem Astronomical Observatory, located deep in the Abu Dhabi desert, worked in partnership with the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission. The astronmers analysed subtle changes in the brightness of stars to detect the transit of planets in front of them - a technique used to discover exoplanets. Eng. Khalfan Al Nuaimi, Chairman of the International Astronomy Center, said the detection of these planets is based on preliminary data provided by the TESS telescope, and is being verified on Earth through a global network of specialised observatories. Eng. Mohammed Shawkat Awda, Director of the International Astronomy Center, said that the Al Khatim Observatory officially joined the TESS Follow-Up Observing Program (TFOP) program in June 2024, after completing a rigorous training program conducted by international experts, followed by a successful practical test to observe one of the candidate planets. He explained that since joining, it has conducted a series of nighttime observations, each lasting between four and seven hours, focusing on 12 stars suspected of having planets. He noted that using its main telescope, it was able to transform the status of 10 of these stars from "candidate planets" to "confirmed planets," an achievement that demonstrates the precision of the observatory's research. Official documents from the Global Programme indicate that the Khatem Observatory achieved these results independently, reflecting the efficiency of its equipment and the accuracy of the observations it provides, especially in light of the environmental challenges facing ground-based observations. Awda emphasised that this contribution represents an important scientific step for the UAE in the field of space exploration, placing it in a leading position in the search for planets that may be habitable, or providing new insights into the formation and evolution of planets in distant galaxies.
Sharjah 24
11-06-2025
- Science
- Sharjah 24
Emirati observatory contributes to discovering new exoplanets
The achievement reinforces the UAE's active participation in leading international scientific projects aimed at deepening the understanding of the universe and exploring the potential for life beyond Earth. Eng. Khalfan Al Nuaimi, President of the International Astronomical Centre, stated that this contribution formed part of a collaboration with NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). The Emirati observatory employs techniques to analyse minute fluctuations in stellar brightness in order to detect planets passing in front of their host stars — a widely adopted method for discovering exoplanets. Eng. Mohammad Shawkat Odeh, Director of the Centre, added that the Al Khatim Observatory officially joined the TESS Follow-up Observing Programme (TFOP) in June 2024, following the successful completion of a rigorous training programme led by international experts, followed by a successful practical test observing a candidate planet. This accomplishment aligns with the UAE's strategic directives to strengthen its scientific leadership and contribute to global efforts to unlock the secrets of the cosmos, supported by state-of-the-art infrastructure and an ambitious vision for the future.
TAG 91.1
11-06-2025
- Science
- TAG 91.1
UAE astronomers detect exoplanets orbiting distant stars
UAE astronomers have reportedly detected the existence of exoplanets orbiting stars far beyond our solar system, the Abu-Dhabi based International Astronomy Centre announced. Al Khatem Astronomical Observatory, located deep in the Abu Dhabi desert, analysed subtle changed in the brightness of stars to detect the transit of planets in front of them - a technique used to discover exoplanets - in cooperation with the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission. His Excellency Eng. Khalfan Al Nuaimi, Chairman of the International Astronomy Center, said the detection of these planets is based on preliminary data provided by the TESS telescope, and is being verified on Earth through a global network of specialised observatories. Eng. Mohammed Shawkat Awda, Director of the International Astronomy Center, said that the Al Khatim Observatory officially joined the TESS Follow-Up Observing Program (TFOP) program in June 2024, after completing a rigorous training program conducted by international experts, followed by a successful practical test to observe one of the candidate planets. He explained that since joining, it has conducted a series of nighttime observations, each lasting between four and seven hours, focusing on 12 stars suspected of having planets. He noted that using its main telescope, it was able to transform the status of 10 of these stars from "candidate planets" to "confirmed planets," an achievement that demonstrates the precision of the observatory's research. Official documents from the Global Programme indicate that the Khatem Observatory achieved these results independently, reflecting the efficiency of its equipment and the accuracy of the observations it provides, especially in light of the environmental challenges facing ground-based observations. Awda emphasized that this contribution represents an important scientific step for the UAE in the field of space exploration, placing it in a leading position in the search for planets that may be habitable, or providing new insights into the formation and evolution of planets in distant galaxies.
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Ginormous planet discovered around tiny red star challenges our understanding of solar systems
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Scientists have spotted a massive planet where one shouldn't be able to exist, according to leading theories of planet formation. A team of researchers discovered a giant planet, dubbed TOI-6894b, orbiting a low-mass red dwarf star about 241 light-years away from Earth. The findings, published June 4 in the journal Nature Astronomy, add another example to a growing list of space objects that challenge standard models of planet formation. "It's an intriguing discovery," study co-author Vincent Van Eylen, an astrophysicist at University College London's Mullard Space Science Laboratory, said in a statement. "We don't really understand how a star with so little mass can form such a massive planet! This is one of the goals of the search for more exoplanets." For years, astronomers thought low-mass stars, less than roughly a third the mass of our sun, would not be able to accumulate enough material to form giant planets. But a few examples that defy these predictions have cropped up, and scientists are looking for others to help revise theories of planet formation. To seek out these planets, study co-author Edward Bryant, an astronomer at University College London, and colleagues turned to the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), a NASA satellite launched in 2018. In a 2023 study, Bryant and colleagues spotted 15 potential giant planets, including TOI-6894b, orbiting low-mass stars. The team homed in on TOI-6894b and its star with additional observations from TESS and several ground-based telescopes. Combining this data, the researchers found that TOI-6894b has about 17% as much mass as Jupiter, or about 53 times as much mass as Earth. The planet's radius is slightly larger than Saturn's, and it orbits its star — which contains about 20% as much mass as the sun — in just 3 days. Related: Scientists have discovered a new dwarf planet in our solar system, far beyond the orbit of Neptune "We did not expect planets like TOI-6894b to be able to form around stars this low-mass," Bryant said in the statement. The red dwarf is the lowest-mass star discovered to host a giant planet so far. "This discovery will be a cornerstone for understanding the extremes of giant planet formation." Though reports of giant planets orbiting red dwarfs are still rare, the discovery suggests that there could be many more of these behemoths in the Milky Way. "Most stars in our galaxy are actually small stars exactly like this, with low masses and previously thought to not be able to host gas giant planets," study co-author Daniel Bayliss, an astrophysicist at the University of Warwick, said in the statement. "So, the fact that this star hosts a giant planet has big implications for the total number of giant planets we estimate exist in our galaxy." TOI-6894b and other giant planets orbiting low mass stars throw a wrench in the core accretion model, the most common theory of how giant planets form. Typically, a giant planet's core grows until it's massive enough to quickly pull in gas from the surrounding protoplanetary disk. But the protoplanetary disks around low mass stars weren't expected to contain enough material for this to occur. RELATED STORIES —What's the largest planet in the universe? —Jupiter is shrinking and used to be twice as big, mind-boggling study reveals —New class of exoplanet — half-rock, half-water — discovered orbiting red dwarf Instead, TOI-6894b could have slowly accumulated gas over time, or it might have formed from a gravitationally unstable protoplanetary disk that collapsed into a planet. Studying the distribution of material in the planet's atmosphere could offer some clues to how it formed, according to the scientists. "This system provides a new challenge for models of planet formation, and it offers a very interesting target for follow-up observations to characterize its atmosphere," said study co-author Andrés Jordán, an astrophysicist at Adolfo Ibáñez University. Researchers will use the James Webb Space Telescope to observe the planet's atmosphere within the next year.
India Today
23-04-2025
- Science
- India Today
New planet is breaking apart, losing material equal to a Mount Everest per orbit
Astronomers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have discovered a new planet crumbling into pieces. The planet is losing material equal to one Mount Everest every time it completes an 140 light-years from Earth, the disintegrating world is about the mass of Mercury, although it circles about 20 times closer to its star than Mercury does to the sun, completing an orbit every 30.5 5,800 planets beyond our solar system, called exoplanets, have been discovered since the 1990s. Of those, only four have been observed disintegrating in orbit, as this one is. This planet is the closest to our solar system of the four, giving scientists a unique opportunity to learn about what happens to these doomed astronomers spotted the planet using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an MIT-led mission that monitors the nearest stars for transits, or periodic dips in starlight that could be signs of orbiting exoplanets. The disintegrating world is about the mass of Mercury. (Photo: Nasa) Its host star, a type called an orange dwarf, is smaller, cooler and dimmer than the sun, with about 70% of the sun's mass and diameter and about 20% of its luminosity. The planet orbits this star every 30.5 hours at a distance about 20 times closer than Mercury is to the planet's surface temperature is estimated at close to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit (about 1,600 degrees Celsius) thanks to its close proximity to its star. As a result, the planet's surface has probably been turned to magma - molten scientists confirmed that the signal is of a tightly orbiting rocky planet that is trailing a long, comet-like tail of debris.'The extent of the tail is gargantuan, stretching up to nine million kilometers long, or roughly half of the planet's entire orbit,' says Marc Hon, a postdoc in MIT's Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space added that the planet is disintegrating at a dramatic rate, shedding an amount of material equivalent to one Mount Everest each time it orbits its star. At this pace, given its small mass, the researchers predict that the planet may completely disintegrate in about 1 million to 2 million years.'We got lucky with catching it exactly when it's really going away. It's like on its last breath,' Avi Shporer, a collaborator on the discovery Reel
