Dr. Herrera Martin of the University of Canterbury who discovered a rare Super-Earth, says such incidents happen “one in a million” times. Observed first in 2018, this Super-Earth was found using Gravitational Microlensing technique.
Crux of the Matter
Super-Earth Found Super-Earth means a planet bigger than Earth but smaller than four gas giants Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus. Astronomers at the University of Canterbury (UC) have discovered a Super-Earth at the center of our galaxy. Interesting facts about this Super-Earth are that the size and orbit of Super-Earth are comparable to the Earth. Its size is 4 times bigger than the Earth and its one year on it is equal to 617 earth days. Astronomers have estimated that its mass would be between that of Neptune and Earth. Its orbit size is estimated between Venus’ and Earth’ from the point of the parent star. Scientists have used Korea Microlensing Telescope Network (KMTNet) to discover it. KMTNet is equipped with Large cameras that observe the light output of 100 million stars every 15 minutes.
How Was It Found? Gravitational Microlensing method was used to locate this planet. In this method, the gravitational force of distant objects is used to bend and focus light coming from a star and whenever a planet passes in front of the star the light dips measurably, which can then be used to determine the presence of a planet. The first microlensing event of this Super-Earth was observed in 2018. Unusual output shape of light took months of computational analysis to determine that it is a star with a low-mass planet. Kepler-452b is the biggest Super earth ever founded – it is speculated to be Mini-Neptune instead.
Curiopedia
The Voyager Golden Records are two phonograph records that were included aboard both Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977. The records contain sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth and are intended for any intelligent extraterrestrial life form who may find them. The records are a sort of time capsule.
The first super-Earths were discovered by Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail around the pulsar PSR B1257+12 in 1992. The two outer planets (Poltergeist and Phobetor) of the system have masses approximately four times Earth.
In January 2016, the existence of a hypothetical super-Earth ninth planet in the Solar System, referred to as Planet Nine, was proposed as an explanation for the orbital behavior of six trans-Neptunian objects, but it is speculated to also be an ice giant like Uranus or Neptune. As of April 2020, no observation of Planet Nine had been announced.
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