A recently discovered gaseous planet called NGTS-4B
– or better known as the “Forbidden Planet” – is almost the same size
as Neptune (20% smaller than Neptune and three times the size of Earth)
and is around 920 light years away from Earth. There’s one major problem
with this planet: it shouldn’t exist.
Located in a region of space called the “celestial desert”, the
planet has a surface temperature of 1,000 degrees Celsius (or 1,832
degrees Fahrenheit). With a temperature that hot, the atmosphere on the
planet should have evaporated since it’s so close to its star. But
incredibly it still exists and it orbits around its star every 1.3 days.
It’s also the first exoplanet to have been discovered in the
Neptunian Desert, which is an area close a star where no Neptune-size
planets have ever been located. Being that close to its star, the
planet’s gaseous atmosphere should be completely evaporated; leaving it
with nothing more than a rocky core, but NGTS-4B still contains its
gassy atmosphere.
It was first discovered when telescopes that were run by the
University of Warwick noticed the planet when it passed in front of its
star as the brightness of the star dimmed by 0.2 percent. Researchers
are baffled as to why the planet remains in existence being so close to
its star. They do, however, have some theories, such as the planet ended
up in its current position within the last million or so years; or that
the planet was once much bigger than it currently is and it’s
continuously getting smaller as the atmosphere is evaporating.
Dr. Richard West, who works in the Department of Physics at the
University of Warwick, said, “This planet must be tough – it is right in
the zone where we expected Neptune-sized planets could not survive,”
adding, “It is truly remarkable that we found a transiting planet via a
star dimming by less than 0.2 percent – this has never been done before
by telescopes on the ground, and it was great to find after working on
this project for a year.”
This incredible discovery has researchers looking for more possible
Neptune-sized planets surviving so close to their host star. “We are now
scouring out data to see if we can see any more planets in the Neptune
Desert – perhaps the desert is greener than was once thought,” West
stated
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