NASA citizen scientist discovers Jupiter-like exoplanet

A citizen scientist has discovered a giant gaseous planet about 379 lightyears from Earth orbiting a star with the same mass as the Sun NASA has saidThe exoplanet called TOI2180 b was discovered in data from NASAs Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite TESSTOI2180 b is almost three times more massive than Jupiter but has the same diameter meaning it is more dense than Jupiter This made scientists wonder whether it formed in a different way than JupiterFurther through computer models the team determined that the new planet may have as much as 105 Earth masses worth of elements heavier than hydrogen and heliumThats a lot Thats more than what we suspect is inside Jupiter said Paul Dalba astronomer at the University of California Riverside and lead author of the studyThe Jupitersize planet is special for astronomers because its 261day year is long compared to many known gas giants outside our solar systemWith an average temperature of about 170 degrees Fahrenheit TOI2180 b is also warmer than room temperature on Earth and warmer than the outer planets of our solar system including Jupiter and SaturnBut compared to the array of transiting giant exoplanets that astronomers have found orbiting other stars TOI2180 b is abnormally chilly NASA saidThe result published in the Astronomical Journal also suggests the planet is just a bit farther from its star than Venus is from the SunTo track the planet professional astronomers and citizen scientists engaged in a global uniting effortUsing TESS data scientists looked for changes in brightness of nearby stars which indicated the presence of orbiting planetsDiscovering and publishing TOI2180 b was a great group effort demonstrating that professional astronomers and seasoned citizen scientists can successfully work together said Tom Jacobs of Bellevue Washington a former US naval officer who discovered the exoplanetWhile professional astronomers use algorithms to scan tens of thousands of data points from stars automatically these citizen scientists use a programme called LcTools to inspect telescope data by eyeOn February 1 2020 Jacobs noticed a plot showing starlight from TOI2180 dim by less than half a percent and then return to its previous brightness level over a 24hour period which may be explained by an orbiting planet that is said to acetransit as it passes in front of the star from our point of view NASA saidWith 27 hours of observations spread over more than 500 days the team measured the amount of light that dims as the planet passes This helped scientists to estimate how big the planet is and its densityThe team wanted to observe the planets transit when it came back around to confirm the orbit but they couldntThe lack of a clear detection put a boundary on how long the orbit could be indicating a period of about 261 daysUsing that estimate they predict TESS will see the planet transit its star again in February 2022 NASA saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever