The Point.fr – Published on 04/06/2013 at 12:39
© ESO / J. Rameau
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Heavy as four to five times Jupiter (between 1272 and 1590 times the mass of Earth), HD 95086 b is still the least massive exoplanet ever observed by imaging direct. Detection mode still extremely difficult to implement. On photographs taken with the Very Large Telescope (VLT) ESO (European Southern Observatory), it appears as a faint point but net, orbiting the young star HD 95086. To see it, the French researchers who discovered, about 300 light years from Earth, had to hide the light of this star aged just 10 to 17 million years ago, almost against 4.6 billion for our sun.
“Direct imaging of planets is an extremely difficult technique, whose implementation requires the use of the most advanced instruments,” said Julien Rameau Institute of Planetology and Astrophysics of Grenoble (IPAG), lead author of the study published in the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters . However, “a planet is less massive, it is more difficult to observe directly,” said astrophysicist Anne-Marie Lagrange (IPAG), a member of the research team. Before HD 95086 b, about a thousand exoplanets have already been discovered, some less massive, but they had been using indirect methods, measuring the brightness drops or swing speed caused by passage of the planet close to its star. So far, only twenty exoplanets have been directly imaged well.
However
The discovery will have to be confirmed, although researchers have strong arguments to make a serious candidate. “We believe that within a year we will be able to confirm, without a doubt,” said another team astronomer Gael Chauvin (IPAG), before adding: “The brightness of stars allows us to estimate the surface temperature of HD 95086 b at about 700 degrees Celsius. This is cool enough for the water vapor and methane may be present in the atmosphere. ” Suffice to say that the object looks very interesting to study.
Read also: Everything you need to know about exoplanets
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