سیارهٔ فراخورشیدی یا سیارهٔ غیرخورشیدی (به انگلیسی: Exoplanet یا Extrasolar planet) سیاره‌ای است که خارج از منظومه شمسی قرار دارد و به دور یک ستاره (غیر از خورشید) در حال گردش‌است. نخستین شناسایی علمی وجود یک سیارهُ فراخورشیدی در سال ۱۹۸۸ انجام شد با این حال، نخستین تأیید در سال ۱۹۹۲ صورت گرفت. از آن به بعد، و تا اول مهُ ۲۰۱۷، شمار سیارگان فراخورشیدی شناسایی شده ۳٬۶۰۸ سیاره بوده که ۲۷۰۲ سیاره در ۶۱۰ سامانهُ سیاره‌ای مختلف، تأیید نیز شده.[۱] و این تعداد روز به روز در حال افزایش است.[۲][۳]
مطالعهٔ سیاره‌های فراخورشیدی جزو موضوعات نوین در دانش اخترشناسی‌است و شامل دو شاخهٔ کلی کشف و شخصیت پردازی این‌گونه سیاره می‌شود. نخستین سیارهُ فراخورشیدی در اوایل دههٔ ۹۰ میلادی کشف شد و از سال ۲۰۰۲ علاوه بر کشف، بررسی شخصیت پردازی این سیاره‌ها نیز آغاز شد.
رصدهای زمینی و فضایی سیارات فراخورشیدی به دو دلیل عمده کار چندان آسانی نیست. نخست اینکه سیارات به‌طور کلی نسبت به ستارگان اندازه‌های بسیار کوچکی دارند و سیارات فراخورشیدی در فاصله‌های بسیار دوری از زمین واقع‌اند. دیگر اینکه سیارات با ستارهٔ میزبانشان اختلاف درخشندگی فوق‌العاده زیادی دارند. وابسته به‌نوع ستاره و اندازه و دمای سیاره، ستاره می‌تواند از حدود ۱۰۰۰ تا یک میلیون برابر پرفروغ‌تر از سیاره‌های پیرامون خود باشد؛ بنابراین تفکیک نور بازتاب شده از سیاره از نور ستاره بسیار مشکل‌است. به عنوان یک تشبیه، رصد یک سیارهٔ غول‌پیکر مانند مشتری در مدار نزدیکترین ستاره‌ها به خورشید، مانند این‌است که در تهران بایستیم و بخواهیم سر یک مورچه، که در جزیره کیش در حال راه رفتن در کنار یک نورافکن به شدت پرنور را مشاهده کنیم!
با وجود تمام این سختی‌ها، اخترشناسان توانسته‌اند روش‌ها و ابزارهایی برای آشکارسازی و مطالعهٔ خصوصیات سیارات فراخورشیدی ابداع کنند. تاکنون حدود شش روش آشکارسازی یافت شده که به‌استثنای یکی، در بقیه سیاره به‌روش غیر مستقیم بررسی می‌شود.
روش تصویر برداری مستقیم:
روش تصویربرداری مستقیم، تنها روشی است که در آن سیاره به‌طور مستقیم رصد می‌شود.
این روش برای سیاره‌های جوان و داغی مناسب‌است که به‌اندازهٔ کافی از ستارهٔ میزبان خود دور هستند. تعداد سیاره‌هایی که با این متد کشف شده‌اند زیاد نیست. در حال حاضر با پیشرفت روش‌های کرونوگرافی استفاده از این روش در حال افزایش‌است.
در باقی روش‌ها سیارهٔ فراخورشیدی به‌طور مستقیم دیده نمی‌شود و تنها می‌توان با رصد ستارهٔ میزبان و مشاهدهٔ تأثیرات گرانشی یا تغییرات نوری‌ای که سیاره بر روی آن می‌گذارد، به‌طور غیرمستقیم، به‌وجود سیاره پی برد.
روش سرعت شعاعی:
تاکنون سرعت شعاعی موفق‌ترین روش در کشف سیاره‌های فراخورشیدی بوده‌است. حدود نیمی از آن‌ها با این روش کشف شده‌اند. در یک سیستم ستاره‌ای، این تنها سیاره نیست که در حال حرکت در مدارش است، بلکه ستاره و سیاره، هر دو به دور مرکز جرم مشترکشان در حال گردش هستند. چون مرکز جرم این سیستم به مرکز ستاره بسیار نزدیک‌است، مدار ستاره بسیار کوچک است که موجب حرکت نوسانی ریزی در ستاره می‌شود. این حرکت نوسانی باعث ایجاد پدیدهٔ داپلر می‌شود و با اندازه‌گیری انتقال به سرخ در طیف ستاره قابل اندازه‌گیری‌است.
این روش برای سیاره‌های سنگین و بزرگی مناسب‌است که به ستارهٔ میزبان خود بسیار نزدیک هستند.
روش گذر:
اساس این روش مانند مطالعهٔ ستاره‌های دوتایی گرفتی است. در برخی موارد، هنگامی که زاویهٔ اینکلینشن مدار نزدیک به ۹۰ درجه است. پدیدهٔ گذر روی می‌دهد که در آن سیاره از دید ما از روی دیسک ستارهٔ میزبان عبور می‌کند. در نتیجهٔ این گذر مقداری از نور ستاره مسدود می‌شود و روشنایی ظاهری ستاره اندکی تغییر می‌کند. اگر در اندازه‌گیری‌های فتومتری، تغییر نوری در ستاره ایجاد شود، می‌تواند مدرکی از وجود یک سیاره در اطراف آن باشد. هرچند برای تأیید قطعی کشف سیاره، به رصدهای پشتیبان نیازاست. روش گذر دومین روش موفق در کشف سیارات فراخورشیدی و نیز نخستین متد موفق در شخصیت‌پردازی سیارات‌است.
اندازه و دیگر کمیت‌ها
بسیاری از آن‌ها بزرگ‌تر از سیارهٔ مشتری هستند. در سال‌های اخیر با بهبود فناوری رصدی، ۱۳ سیارهٔ فراخورشیدی هم‌اندازه با کرهٔ زمین نیز کشف شده‌است.[۲]
در میان سیاره‌های فراخورشیدی نمونه‌های شگرفی دیده می‌شوند، برای نمونه سیاره‌ای مشابه به سیاره کوروت- ۷بی (COROT-7b) در ۲۶۰ سال نوری از زمین وجود دارد که سرعت گردش آن به دور ستارهٔ مادر چنان بالاست که هر سال در این سیاره تنها سه روز به درازا می‌کشد.[۴]
دانشمندان بر این باورند که سیاره‌های بیشماری بوده یا هستند که توسط ستارهٔ خود فرو بلعیده شده یا از مدار و منظومه خود به بیرون پرت شده و در فضای خالی سرگردان گشته‌اند.[۴]
ستاره‌شناسان مأموریت کپلر می‌گویند سیاره‌ای فراخورشیدی همانند زمین موجود است که در منطقه قابل سکونت ستارهٔ خود قراردارد. دانشمندان می‌گویند این سیاره که به اسم کپلر ۶۹سی نامیده شده همانند سیاره‌های سامانه خورشیدی در مداری ویژه پیرامون ستاره‌ای می‌چرخد. این سیارهٔ فراخورشیدی احتمالاً نخستین سیاره‌ای‌است که در آن زندگی خارج از زمین وجود دارد.[۷]
اولین کشف‌ها
در سال ۱۹۹۲ یک ستارهشناسلهستانی به نام الکساندر وُلستکان، نخستین سیارهٔ فراخورشیدی را در پیرامون تپ اختر PSR 1257+12 کشف کرد. این کشف سریعاً مورد تأیید قرار گرفت و به عنوان نخستین کشف سیارهٔ فراخورشیدی تأیید شده، شناخته شد. سیارهٔ بعدی در ۶ اکتبر ۱۹۹۵ توسط تیمی به سرپرستی میشل مایور از دانشگاه ژنو، به دور ستارهٔ رشته اصلی، ۵۱ پگاسوس صورت گرفت.
حروف کوچک b بعد از نام ستاره، برای نامگذاری اولین سیارهٔ آن سیستم است مانند (۵۱ Pegasi b). برای نامگذاری دومین سیارهٔ کشف شده در یک سیستم، از حرف کوچک (c) استفاده می‌شود، مانند، (۵۱pegasi c)و سومین سیارهٔ کشف شده آن سیستم (۵۱pegasi d) و به همین ترتیب. از حرف a استفاده نمی‌شود زیرا به خود ستاره بر می‌گردد.
ترتیب حروف کوچک … ,a,b,c به ترتیب زمان کشف، بر روی سیارات یک سیستم گذاشته می‌شود نه به ترتیب نزدیکی به ستاره. به‌طور مثال در سیستم Gliese 876 نزدیکترین سیاره به آن Gliese 876 d می‌باشد. قبل از کشف ۵۱pegasi b سیارگان فراخورشیدی به ترتیب نزدیکی به ستارهٔ مادر نامگذاری می‌شدند: برای مثال PSR1257+12 c و PSR1257+12 b :کشف شدند PSR۱۲۵۷+۱۲ اولین سیاره‌هایی که اطراف تپ اختر بودند. سیارهٔ نزدیکتری که بعداً کشف شد، PSR1257+12 a نام گرفت نه PSR1257+12 d. بعضی از سیاره‌های فراخورشیدی نیز اسم‌های مستعار دارند. به‌طور مثال HD 209458 b، اوزیریس و 51 Pegasi b، بلروفون نام دارند.
↑ ۲٫۰۲٫۱Ferris, Timothy. 2009. "Searching for New Earths - Distant worlds are being discovered. Is one of them like ours?" National Geographic. 216 (6): 78.
Size comparison of Jupiter and the exoplanet TrES-3b. TrES-3b has an orbital period of only 31 hours[3] and is classified as a hot Jupiter for being large and close to its star, making it one of the easiest planets to detect by the transit method.
NASAhistogram chart of confirmed exoplanets by distance
An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917, but was not recognized as such.[4] The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. This was followed by the confirmation of a different planet, originally detected in 1988. As of 1 October 2021, there are 4,843 confirmed exoplanets in 3,579 planetary systems, with 797 systems having more than one planet.[5]
There are many methods of detecting exoplanets. Transit photometry and Doppler spectroscopy have found the most, but these methods suffer from a clear observational bias favoring the detection of planets near the star; thus, 85% of the exoplanets detected are inside the tidal locking zone.[6] In several cases, multiple planets have been observed around a star.[7] About 1 in 5 Sun-like stars[a] have an "Earth-sized"[b] planet in the habitable zone.[c][8][9] Assuming there are 200 billion stars in the Milky Way,[d] it can be hypothesized that there are 11 billion potentially habitable Earth-sized planets in the Milky Way, rising to 40 billion if planets orbiting the numerous red dwarfs are included.[10]
The least massive planet known is Draugr (also known as PSR B1257+12 A or PSR B1257+12 b), which is about twice the mass of the Moon. The most massive planet listed on the NASA Exoplanet Archive is HR 2562 b,[11][12] about 30 times the mass of Jupiter, although according to some definitions of a planet (based on the nuclear fusion of deuterium[13]), it is too massive to be a planet and may be a brown dwarf instead. Known orbital times for exoplanets vary from a few hours (for those closest to their star) to thousands of years. Some exoplanets are so far away from the star that it is difficult to tell whether they are gravitationally bound to it. Almost all of the planets detected so far are within the Milky Way. There is evidence that extragalactic planets, exoplanets farther away in galaxies beyond the local Milky Way galaxy, may exist.[14][15] The nearest exoplanets are located 4.2 light-years (1.3 parsecs) from Earth and orbit Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Sun.[16]
The discovery of exoplanets has intensified interest in the search for extraterrestrial life. There is special interest in planets that orbit in a star's habitable zone, where it is possible for liquid water, a prerequisite for life on Earth, to exist on the surface. The study of planetary habitability also considers a wide range of other factors in determining the suitability of a planet for hosting life.[17]
Rogue planets are those that do not orbit any star. Such objects are considered as a separate category of planet, especially if they are gas giants, which are often counted as sub-brown dwarfs.[18] The rogue planets in the Milky Way possibly number in the billions or more.[19][20]
The official definition of the term planet used by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) only covers the Solar System and thus does not apply to exoplanets.[21][22] The IAU Working Group on Extrasolar Planets issued a position statement containing a working definition of "planet" in 2001 and which was modified in 2003.[23] An exoplanet was defined by the following criteria:
Objects with true masses below the limiting mass for thermonuclear fusion of deuterium (currently calculated to be 13 Jupiter masses for objects of solar metallicity) that orbit stars or stellar remnants are "planets" (no matter how they formed). The minimum mass/size required for an extrasolar object to be considered a planet should be the same as that used in the Solar System.
Substellar objects with true masses above the limiting mass for thermonuclear fusion of deuterium are "brown dwarfs", no matter how they formed or where they are located.
Free-floating objects in young star clusters with masses below the limiting mass for thermonuclear fusion of deuterium are not "planets", but are "sub-brown dwarfs" (or whatever name is most appropriate).
This working definition was amended by the IAU's Commission F2: Exoplanets and the Solar System in August 2018.[24] The official working definition of an exoplanet is now as follows:
Objects with true masses below the limiting mass for thermonuclear fusion of deuterium (currently calculated to be 13 Jupiter masses for objects of solar metallicity) that orbit stars, brown dwarfs or stellar remnants and that have a mass ratio with the central object below the L4/L5 instability (M/Mcentral < 2/(25+√621) are "planets" (no matter how they formed).
The minimum mass/size required for an extrasolar object to be considered a planet should be the same as that used in our Solar System.
The IAU noted that this definition could be expected to evolve as knowledge improves.
Alternatives
The IAU's working definition is not always used. One alternate suggestion is that planets should be distinguished from brown dwarfs on the basis of formation. It is widely thought that giant planets form through core accretion, which may sometimes produce planets with masses above the deuterium fusion threshold;[25][26][13] massive planets of that sort may have already been observed.[27] Brown dwarfs form like stars from the direct gravitational collapse of clouds of gas and this formation mechanism also produces objects that are below the 13MJup limit and can be as low as 1MJup.[28] Objects in this mass range that orbit their stars with wide separations of hundreds or thousands of AU and have large star/object mass ratios likely formed as brown dwarfs; their atmospheres would likely have a composition more similar to their host star than accretion-formed planets which would contain increased abundances of heavier elements. Most directly imaged planets as of April 2014 are massive and have wide orbits so probably represent the low-mass end of brown dwarf formation.[29]
One study suggests that objects above 10MJup formed through gravitational instability and should not be thought of as planets.[30]
Also, the 13-Jupiter-mass cutoff does not have precise physical significance. Deuterium fusion can occur in some objects with a mass below that cutoff.[13] The amount of deuterium fused depends to some extent on the composition of the object.[31] As of 2011 the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia included objects up to 25 Jupiter masses, saying, "The fact that there is no special feature around 13MJup in the observed mass spectrum reinforces the choice to forget this mass limit".[32]
As of 2016 this limit was increased to 60 Jupiter masses[33] based on a study of mass–density relationships.[34]
The Exoplanet Data Explorer includes objects up to 24 Jupiter masses with the advisory: "The 13 Jupiter-mass distinction by the IAU Working Group is physically unmotivated for planets with rocky cores, and observationally problematic due to the sin i ambiguity."[35]
The NASA Exoplanet Archive includes objects with a mass (or minimum mass) equal to or less than 30 Jupiter masses.[36]
Another criterion for separating planets and brown dwarfs, rather than deuterium fusion, formation process or location, is whether the core pressure is dominated by coulomb pressure or electron degeneracy pressure with the dividing line at around 5 Jupiter masses.[37][38]
The convention for designating exoplanets is an extension of the system used for designating multiple-star systems as adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). For exoplanets orbiting a single star, the IAU designation is formed by taking the designated or proper name of its parent star, and adding a lower case letter.[40] Letters are given in order of each planet's discovery around the parent star, so that the first planet discovered in a system is designated "b" (the parent star is considered to be "a") and later planets are given subsequent letters. If several planets in the same system are discovered at the same time, the closest one to the star gets the next letter, followed by the other planets in order of orbital size. A provisional IAU-sanctioned standard exists to accommodate the designation of circumbinary planets. A limited number of exoplanets have IAU-sanctioned proper names. Other naming systems exist.
History of detection
For centuries scientists, philosophers, and science fiction writers suspected that extrasolar planets existed, but there was no way of knowing whether they existed, how common they were, or how similar they might be to the planets of the Solar System. Various detection claims made in the nineteenth century were rejected by astronomers.
The first evidence of a possible exoplanet, orbiting Van Maanen 2, was noted in 1917, but was not recognized as such. The astronomer Walter Sydney Adams, who later became director of the Mount Wilson Observatory, produced a spectrum of the star using Mount Wilson's 60-inch telescope. He interpreted the spectrum to be of an F-type main-sequence star, but it is now thought that such a spectrum could be caused by the residue of a nearby exoplanet that had been pulverized into dust by the gravity of the star, the resulting dust then falling onto the star.[4]
The first suspected scientific detection of an exoplanet occurred in 1988. Shortly afterwards, the first confirmation of detection came in 1992, with the discovery of several terrestrial-mass planets orbiting the pulsarPSR B1257+12.[41] The first confirmation of an exoplanet orbiting a main-sequence star was made in 1995, when a giant planet was found in a four-day orbit around the nearby star 51 Pegasi. Some exoplanets have been imaged directly by telescopes, but the vast majority have been detected through indirect methods, such as the transit method and the radial-velocity method. In February 2018, researchers using the Chandra X-ray Observatory, combined with a planet detection technique called microlensing, found evidence of planets in a distant galaxy, stating "Some of these exoplanets are as (relatively) small as the moon, while others are as massive as Jupiter. Unlike Earth, most of the exoplanets are not tightly bound to stars, so they're actually wandering through space or loosely orbiting between stars. We can estimate that the number of planets in this [faraway] galaxy is more than a trillion.[42]
Early speculations
This space we declare to be infinite... In it are an infinity of worlds of the same kind as our own.
In the sixteenth century, the Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno, an early supporter of the Copernican theory that Earth and other planets orbit the Sun (heliocentrism), put forward the view that the fixed stars are similar to the Sun and are likewise accompanied by planets.
In the eighteenth century, the same possibility was mentioned by Isaac Newton in the "General Scholium" that concludes his Principia. Making a comparison to the Sun's planets, he wrote "And if the fixed stars are the centres of similar systems, they will all be constructed according to a similar design and subject to the dominion of One."[44]
In 1952, more than 40 years before the first hot Jupiter was discovered, Otto Struve wrote that there is no compelling reason why planets could not be much closer to their parent star than is the case in the Solar System, and proposed that Doppler spectroscopy and the transit method could detect super-Jupiters in short orbits.[45]
Discredited claims
Claims of exoplanet detections have been made since the nineteenth century. Some of the earliest involve the binary star70 Ophiuchi. In 1855 William Stephen Jacob at the East India Company's Madras Observatory reported that orbital anomalies made it "highly probable" that there was a "planetary body" in this system.[46] In the 1890s, Thomas J. J. See of the University of Chicago and the United States Naval Observatory stated that the orbital anomalies proved the existence of a dark body in the 70 Ophiuchi system with a 36-year period around one of the stars.[47] However, Forest Ray Moulton published a paper proving that a three-body system with those orbital parameters would be highly unstable.[48] During the 1950s and 1960s, Peter van de Kamp of Swarthmore College made another prominent series of detection claims, this time for planets orbiting Barnard's Star.[49] Astronomers now generally regard all the early reports of detection as erroneous.[50]
In 1991 Andrew Lyne, M. Bailes and S. L. Shemar claimed to have discovered a pulsar planet in orbit around PSR 1829-10, using pulsar timing variations.[51] The claim briefly received intense attention, but Lyne and his team soon retracted it.[52]
2MASS J044144 is a brown dwarf with a companion about 5–10 times the mass of Jupiter. It is not clear whether this companion object is a sub-brown dwarf or a planet.
As of 1 October 2021, a total of 4,843 confirmed exoplanets are listed in the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia, including a few that were confirmations of controversial claims from the late 1980s.[5] The first published discovery to receive subsequent confirmation was made in 1988 by the Canadian astronomers Bruce Campbell, G. A. H. Walker, and Stephenson Yang of the University of Victoria and the University of British Columbia.[53] Although they were cautious about claiming a planetary detection, their radial-velocity observations suggested that a planet orbits the star Gamma Cephei. Partly because the observations were at the very limits of instrumental capabilities at the time, astronomers remained skeptical for several years about this and other similar observations. It was thought some of the apparent planets might instead have been brown dwarfs, objects intermediate in mass between planets and stars. In 1990, additional observations were published that supported the existence of the planet orbiting Gamma Cephei,[54] but subsequent work in 1992 again raised serious doubts.[55] Finally, in 2003, improved techniques allowed the planet's existence to be confirmed.[56]
Coronagraphic image of AB Pictoris showing a companion (bottom left), which is either a brown dwarf or a massive planet. The data was obtained on 16 March 2003 with NACO on the VLT, using a 1.4 arcsec occulting mask on top of AB Pictoris.
On 9 January 1992, radio astronomers Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail announced the discovery of two planets orbiting the pulsarPSR 1257+12.[41] This discovery was confirmed, and is generally considered to be the first definitive detection of exoplanets. Follow-up observations solidified these results, and confirmation of a third planet in 1994 revived the topic in the popular press.[57] These pulsar planets are thought to have formed from the unusual remnants of the supernova that produced the pulsar, in a second round of planet formation, or else to be the remaining rocky cores of gas giants that somehow survived the supernova and then decayed into their current orbits.
In the early 1990s, a group of astronomers led by Donald Backer, who were studying what they thought was a binary pulsar (PSR B1620−26 b), determined that a third object was needed to explain the observed Doppler shifts. Within a few years, the gravitational effects of the planet on the orbit of the pulsar and white dwarf had been measured, giving an estimate of the mass of the third object that was too small for it to be a star. The conclusion that the third object was a planet was announced by Stephen Thorsett and his collaborators in 1993.[58]
On 6 October 1995, Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz of the University of Geneva announced the first definitive detection of an exoplanet orbiting a main-sequence star, nearby G-type star51 Pegasi.[59][60] This discovery, made at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence, ushered in the modern era of exoplanetary discovery, and was recognized by a share of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics. Technological advances, most notably in high-resolution spectroscopy, led to the rapid detection of many new exoplanets: astronomers could detect exoplanets indirectly by measuring their gravitational influence on the motion of their host stars. More extrasolar planets were later detected by observing the variation in a star's apparent luminosity as an orbiting planet transited in front of it.
Initially, most known exoplanets were massive planets that orbited very close to their parent stars. Astronomers were surprised by these "hot Jupiters", because theories of planetary formation had indicated that giant planets should only form at large distances from stars. But eventually more planets of other sorts were found, and it is now clear that hot Jupiters make up the minority of exoplanets. In 1999, Upsilon Andromedae became the first main-sequence star known to have multiple planets.[61]Kepler-16 contains the first discovered planet that orbits around a binary main-sequence star system.[62]
On 26 February 2014, NASA announced the discovery of 715 newly verified exoplanets around 305 stars by the Kepler Space Telescope. These exoplanets were checked using a statistical technique called "verification by multiplicity".[63][64][65] Before these results, most confirmed planets were gas giants comparable in size to Jupiter or larger because they are more easily detected, but the Kepler planets are mostly between the size of Neptune and the size of Earth.[63]
On 23 July 2015, NASA announced Kepler-452b, a near-Earth-size planet orbiting the habitable zone of a G2-type star.[66]
On 6 September 2018, NASA discovered an exoplanet about 145 light years away from Earth in the constellation Virgo.[67] This exoplanet, Wolf 503b, is twice the size of Earth and was discovered orbiting a type of star known as an "Orange Dwarf". Wolf 503b completes one orbit in as few as six days because it is very close to the star. Wolf 503b is the only exoplanet that large that can be found near the so-called Fulton gap. The Fulton gap, first noticed in 2017, is the observation that it is unusual to find planets within a certain mass range.[67] Under the Fulton gap studies, this opens up a new field for astronomers, who are still studying whether planets found in the Fulton gap are gaseous or rocky.[67]
In January 2020, scientists announced the discovery of TOI 700 d, the first Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone detected by TESS.[68]
Candidate discoveries
As of January 2020, NASA's Kepler and TESS missions had identified 4374 planetary candidates yet to be confirmed,[69] several of them being nearly Earth-sized and located in the habitable zone, some around Sun-like stars.[70][71][72]
About 97% of all the confirmed exoplanets have been discovered by indirect techniques of detection, mainly by radial velocity measurements and transit monitoring techniques.[80] Recently the techniques of singular optics have been applied in the search for exoplanets.[81]
Planets may form within a few to tens (or more) of millions of years of their star forming.[82][83][84][85][86]
The planets of the Solar System can only be observed in their current state, but observations of different planetary systems of varying ages allows us to observe planets at different stages of evolution. Available observations range from young proto-planetary disks where planets are still forming[87] to planetary systems of over 10 Gyr old.[88] When planets form in a gaseous protoplanetary disk,[89] they accrete hydrogen/helium envelopes.[90][91] These envelopes cool and contract over time and, depending on the mass of the planet, some or all of the hydrogen/helium is eventually lost to space.[89] This means that even terrestrial planets may start off with large radii if they form early enough.[92][93][94] An example is Kepler-51b which has only about twice the mass of Earth but is almost the size of Saturn which is a hundred times the mass of Earth. Kepler-51b is quite young at a few hundred million years old.[95]
Using data from Kepler, a correlation has been found between the metallicity of a star and the probability that the star hosts a giant planet, similar to the size of Jupiter. Stars with higher metallicity are more likely to have planets, especially giant planets, than stars with lower metallicity.[100]
Some planets orbit one member of a binary star system,[101] and several circumbinary planets have been discovered which orbit around both members of binary star. A few planets in triple star systems are known[102] and one in the quadruple system Kepler-64.
This color–color diagram compares the colors of planets in the Solar System to exoplanet HD 189733b. The exoplanet's deep blue color is produced by silicate droplets, which scatter blue light in its atmosphere.
In 2013 the color of an exoplanet was determined for the first time. The best-fit albedo measurements of HD 189733b suggest that it is deep dark blue.[103][104] Later that same year, the colors of several other exoplanets were determined, including GJ 504 b which visually has a magenta color,[105] and Kappa Andromedae b, which if seen up close would appear reddish in color.[106]Helium planets are expected to be white or grey in appearance.[107]
The apparent brightness (apparent magnitude) of a planet depends on how far away the observer is, how reflective the planet is (albedo), and how much light the planet receives from its star, which depends on how far the planet is from the star and how bright the star is. So, a planet with a low albedo that is close to its star can appear brighter than a planet with high albedo that is far from the star.[108]
The darkest known planet in terms of geometric albedo is TrES-2b, a hot Jupiter that reflects less than 1% of the light from its star, making it less reflective than coal or black acrylic paint. Hot Jupiters are expected to be quite dark due to sodium and potassium in their atmospheres but it is not known why TrES-2b is so dark—it could be due to an unknown chemical compound.[109][110][111]
For gas giants, geometric albedo generally decreases with increasing metallicity or atmospheric temperature unless there are clouds to modify this effect. Increased cloud-column depth increases the albedo at optical wavelengths, but decreases it at some infrared wavelengths. Optical albedo increases with age, because older planets have higher cloud-column depths. Optical albedo decreases with increasing mass, because higher-mass giant planets have higher surface gravities, which produces lower cloud-column depths. Also, elliptical orbits can cause major fluctuations in atmospheric composition, which can have a significant effect.[112]
There is more thermal emission than reflection at some near-infrared wavelengths for massive and/or young gas giants. So, although optical brightness is fully phase-dependent, this is not always the case in the near infrared.[112]
Temperatures of gas giants reduce over time and with distance from their star. Lowering the temperature increases optical albedo even without clouds. At a sufficiently low temperature, water clouds form, which further increase optical albedo. At even lower temperatures ammonia clouds form, resulting in the highest albedos at most optical and near-infrared wavelengths.[112]
Magnetic field
In 2014, a magnetic field around HD 209458 b was inferred from the way hydrogen was evaporating from the planet. It is the first (indirect) detection of a magnetic field on an exoplanet. The magnetic field is estimated to be about one tenth as strong as Jupiter's.[113][114]
Exoplanets magnetic fields may be detectable by their auroralradio emissions with sensitive enough radio telescopes such as LOFAR.[115][116] The radio emissions could enable determination of the rotation rate of the interior of an exoplanet, and may yield a more accurate way to measure exoplanet rotation than by examining the motion of clouds.[117]
Earth's magnetic field results from its flowing liquid metallic core, but in massive super-Earths with high pressure, different compounds may form which do not match those created under terrestrial conditions. Compounds may form with greater viscosities and high melting temperatures which could prevent the interiors from separating into different layers and so result in undifferentiated coreless mantles. Forms of magnesium oxide such as MgSi3O12 could be a liquid metal at the pressures and temperatures found in super-Earths and could generate a magnetic field in the mantles of super-Earths.[118][119]
Hot Jupiters have been observed to have a larger radius than expected. This could be caused by the interaction between the stellar wind and the planet's magnetosphere creating an electric current through the planet that heats it up causing it to expand. The more magnetically active a star is the greater the stellar wind and the larger the electric current leading to more heating and expansion of the planet. This theory matches the observation that stellar activity is correlated with inflated planetary radii.[120]
In August 2018, scientists announced the transformation of gaseous deuterium into a liquid metallic form. This may help researchers better understand giant gas planets, such as Jupiter, Saturn and related exoplanets, since such planets are thought to contain a lot of liquid metallic hydrogen, which may be responsible for their observed powerful magnetic fields.[121][122]
Although scientists previously announced that the magnetic fields of close-in exoplanets may cause increased stellar flares and starspots on their host stars, in 2019 this claim was demonstrated to be false in the HD 189733 system. The failure to detect "star-planet interactions" in the well-studied HD 189733 system calls other related claims of the effect into question.[123]
In 2019 the strength of the surface magnetic fields of 4 hot Jupiters were estimated and ranged between 20 and 120 gauss compared to Jupiter's surface magnetic field of 4.3 gauss.[124][125]
Plate tectonics
In 2007, two independent teams of researchers came to opposing conclusions about the likelihood of plate tectonics on larger super-Earths[126][127] with one team saying that plate tectonics would be episodic or stagnant[128] and the other team saying that plate tectonics is very likely on super-Earths even if the planet is dry.[129]
If super-Earths have more than 80 times as much water as Earth then they become ocean planets with all land completely submerged. However, if there is less water than this limit, then the deep water cycle will move enough water between the oceans and mantle to allow continents to exist.[130][131]
Volcanism
Large surface temperature variations on 55 Cancri e have been attributed to possible volcanic activity releasing large clouds of dust which blanket the planet and block thermal emissions.[132][133]
Rings
The star 1SWASP J140747.93-394542.6 is orbited by an object that is circled by a ring system much larger than Saturn's rings. However, the mass of the object is not known; it could be a brown dwarf or low-mass star instead of a planet.[134][135]
The brightness of optical images of Fomalhaut b could be due to starlight reflecting off a circumplanetary ring system with a radius between 20 and 40 times that of Jupiter's radius, about the size of the orbits of the Galilean moons.[136]
The rings of the Solar System's gas giants are aligned with their planet's equator. However, for exoplanets that orbit close to their star, tidal forces from the star would lead to the outermost rings of a planet being aligned with the planet's orbital plane around the star. A planet's innermost rings would still be aligned with the planet's equator so that if the planet has a tilted rotational axis, then the different alignments between the inner and outer rings would create a warped ring system.[137]
Moons
In December 2013 a candidate exomoon of a rogue planet was announced.[138] On 3 October 2018, evidence suggesting a large exomoon orbiting Kepler-1625b was reported.[139]
Clear versus cloudy atmospheres on two exoplanets.[140]
Atmospheres have been detected around several exoplanets. The first to be observed was HD 209458 b in 2001.[141]
In May 2017, glints of light from Earth, seen as twinkling from an orbiting satellite a million miles away, were found to be reflected light from ice crystals in the atmosphere.[142][143] The technology used to determine this may be useful in studying the atmospheres of distant worlds, including those of exoplanets.
Comet-like tails
KIC 12557548 b is a small rocky planet, very close to its star, that is evaporating and leaving a trailing tail of cloud and dust like a comet.[144] The dust could be ash erupting from volcanos and escaping due to the small planet's low surface-gravity, or it could be from metals that are vaporized by the high temperatures of being so close to the star with the metal vapor then condensing into dust.[145]
In June 2015, scientists reported that the atmosphere of GJ 436 b was evaporating, resulting in a giant cloud around the planet and, due to radiation from the host star, a long trailing tail 14 million km (9 million mi) long.[146]
Insolation pattern
Tidally locked planets in a 1:1 spin-orbit resonance would have their star always shining directly overhead on one spot which would be hot with the opposite hemisphere receiving no light and being freezing cold. Such a planet could resemble an eyeball with the hotspot being the pupil.[147] Planets with an eccentric orbit could be locked in other resonances. 3:2 and 5:2 resonances would result in a double-eyeball pattern with hotspots in both eastern and western hemispheres.[148] Planets with both an eccentric orbit and a tilted axis of rotation would have more complicated insolation patterns.[149]
As more planets are discovered, the field of exoplanetology continues to grow into a deeper study of extrasolar worlds, and will ultimately tackle the prospect of life on planets beyond the Solar System.[80] At cosmic distances, life can only be detected if it is developed at a planetary scale and strongly modified the planetary environment, in such a way that the modifications cannot be explained by classical physico-chemical processes (out of equilibrium processes).[80] For example, molecular oxygen (O 2) in the atmosphere of Earth is a result of photosynthesis by living plants and many kinds of microorganisms, so it can be used as an indication of life on exoplanets, although small amounts of oxygen could also be produced by non-biological means.[150] Furthermore, a potentially habitable planet must orbit a stable star at a distance within which planetary-mass objects with sufficient atmospheric pressure can support liquid water at their surfaces.[151][152]
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