MIT Scientists Made The Possible Brightest Exoplanet Discovery By K2 Mission Data
Karthick (Author) Published Date : Jun 26, 2018 17:37 ISTScience
New hidden exoplanets were discovered by scientists from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) after analysing the data taken from the K2 mission. These are about 80 in number and one among them is revolving around the star HD 73344 and it might be the brightest planet found by the K2 mission so far.
Finding an exoplanet involves analysis regarding the light intensity of stars and the bodies revolving around each of the stars through graphical means thus consuming more time, even up to a year, but with the advanced methods of light curves, it would be possible to identify the exoplanets within a few weeks. In connection to this, the pictures of exoplanets could also be taken from the ground telescopes if earth passes near the zone of exoplanets while revolving around the Sun.
A recently published article in an astronomy-related journal describes more about the planet characteristics around HD 73344. The research team suggested that it would be 2.5 times bigger than Earth's size and located at a distance of 114 light years from the Earth. Its temperature would be around 1200 Celsius.
Astronomers mentioned the planet's discovery as a highlight in the K2 mission that is followed by the Kepler Space Telescope Mission of NASA and also said that the observations being taken at the faster rate about exoplanets would further be developed by NASA's ongoing mission i.e. Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS).