When a father and his 7-year-old son discover two exoplanets

A father and his seven-year-old son Bring Significant contribution to science by discovering two new species outer planets. These are located 352 light years away.

The gaseous planets b and c orbit a star known as HD 152843. The latter is a bright yellow dwarf with a maximum surface temperature of between 5000 and 5700 degrees Celsius. The star is slightly brighter than our sun, although its mass is somewhat similar. The difference in brightness may be due to the volume. The sun of the two outer planets is 1.5 times larger than our sun.

For planets, b is roughly the size of Neptune with a revolution lasting 12 days and a mass 12 times that of Earth. Planet C is 5.8 times the size of our planet and has a revolution between 19 and 35 days – with a mass 28 times that of Earth. By comparison, Mercury orbits our sun in 88 days. This gives an idea of ​​the proximity of the two gas giants of the yellow dwarf.

Discovering new planets is undoubtedly an experience that Cesar Rubio and his son Miguel will never forget. We can say that they are part of the scientific community, but they are not professionals. Father is a simple mechanic in Pomona, California.

They can thank Planet Hunters TESS

Planet Hunters is a program of the US Space Agency launched in December 2010. It aims to facilitate the discovery of exoplanets using human observers. To do this, participants analyze data from NASA space telescopes.

The program takes advantage of the fact that humans are better able to recognize visual patterns than computers. Planet Hunters TESS will celebrate its third anniversary this year. It uses data from TESS, a NASA satellite to count exoplanets in transit.

Miguel and his father participate in this program. ” I feel like I’m contributing, even if it’s only a small part Cesar Rubio said after confirming the discovery. The mechanic said he often visits the TESS website with his son.

Read also: Astronomers have discovered the presence of an abundant molecule on Earth in the atmosphere of an exoplanet

Uninhabitable exoplanets

Planets B and C are located in the solar system’s habitable zone HD 152843. However, they do not provide an environment similar to that of Earth. Exoplanets are very gaseous and temperatures are very high.

Oxford University astrophysicist Nora Eisner is delighted with the discovery. ” Studying them together, at the same time, is really interesting for establishing theories about how planets form and evolve over time. », explains the researcher in a research paper published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.