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Artist\u2019s impression of SPECULOOS-3b orbiting it\u2019s flaring, ultracool brown dwarf star. (Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech)<\/p>\n
When an exoplanet transits its star, which means it passes in front of its star from Earth\u2019s perspective, the star appears slightly dimmer. Astronomers study how the star\u2019s light changes during these transits to infer the exoplanet\u2019s properties.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWhile there were structures in the 2021 data that didn\u2019t look convincing, the 2022 Artemis data really got our attention,\u201d said Artem Burdanov of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who manages the SPECULOOS Northern Observatory. \u201cWe started to analyze one clear transit-like signal in the Artemis data, quickly decided to launch a campaign around this star, and then things just started lining up.\u201d<\/p>\n
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With the new observations, the scientists could measure the size of SPECULOOS-3b and its star. They found that the star was similar in size to Jupiter or about one-tenth the size of the Sun. By measuring how much the star dimmed during transits, the team concluded that SPECULOOS-3b must be about the same size as the Earth.<\/p>\n
Additionally, the team found that the exoplanet orbits its star in about 17 hours, at a very close distance. \u201cWe believe that the planet rotates synchronously, so that the same side, called the day side, always faces the star, just like the Moon does for the Earth. On the other hand, the night side hand, would be locked in endless darkness,\u201d said study lead Micha\u00ebl Gillon of the University of Li\u00e8ge in Belgium.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile there were structures in the 2021 data that didn\u2019t look convincing, the 2022 Artemis data really got our attention,\u201d said Artem Burdanov of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who manages the SPECULOOS Northern Observatory. \u201cWe started to analyze one clear transit-like signal in the Artemis data, quickly decided to launch a campaign around this star, and then things just started lining up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Space Shuttle models (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n With the new observations, the scientists could measure the size of SPECULOOS-3b and its star. They found that the star was similar in size to Jupiter or about one-tenth the size of the Sun. By measuring how much the star dimmed during transits, the team concluded that SPECULOOS-3b must be about the same size as the Earth.<\/p>\n Additionally, the team found that the exoplanet orbits its star in about 17 hours, at a very close distance. \u201cWe believe that the planet rotates synchronously, so that the same side, called the day side, always faces the star, just like the Moon does for the Earth. On the other hand, the night side hand, would be locked in endless darkness,\u201d said study lead Micha\u00ebl Gillon of the University of Li\u00e8ge in Belgium.<\/p>\n