The Very Large Telescope has found an exoplanet in polar orbit around a couple of rare stars. It is the first proof of the existence of a “polar planet”.
In recent years, astronomical research has led to the discovery of numerous extrasolar planets, some of which orbit around two stars simultaneously, just like the famous imaginary world of Star WarsTatooine.
These planets, known as Circumbinari, generally follow orbits that align with the orbital plan of their guest stars, as happens for all the planets of our sun system. However, scientists had already hypothesized The existence of planets with orbits perpendicular to the equatorial plane, or polar, around pairs of stars, and now a concrete test has finally been found.
The discovery. A team of astronomers led by Thomas Baycroft, PhD student at the University of Birmingham, identified a unique exoplanet of its kind: 2m1510 (AB) b. This planet Orbit around a couple of brown young dwarfsthe biggest celestial objects of the gligant planets, but too small to be considered real stars. The peculiarity of this system is that The two brown dwarfs produce mutual eclipses if observed from the earthmaking them part of what astronomers call “binary to eclipse”.
Such a system is extremely rare: it is only the second pair of brunette dwarfs in Eclisse never discovered and hosts The first exoplanet never identified on a polar orbit. “It is a planet in orbit not only around a binary, but a binary of brunette dwarfs, and moreover on a polar orbit,” said Amaury Triaud, professor at the University of Birmingham and co -author of the study.
The tools used. The astronomers identified 2m1510 (AB) B while they perfected the orbital and physical parameters of the two brown dwarfs, collecting data with the UNE tool (Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph) installed on the ESO VLT at the Paranal Observatory, in Chile. The pair of dwarfs brown, known as 2m1510, had been observed for the first time in 2018 in the context in the context in 2018 of the Speculoos program (Search for Habitable Planets Eclipping Ultra-Cool Stars), a project dedicated to the search for planets around ultra-fredde stars. During the observations, the scientists noticed that the orbital path of the two stars was modified in an unusual way, suggesting the presence of an exoplanet with an atypical orbital corner. After analyzing all the possible scenarios, the only explanation consistent with the data collected was that A planet was on a polar orbit around the binary.
Why is it important? The discovery of 2m1510 (AB) B is particularly significant because it shows that polar orbits are not only theoretically stablebut they can actually exist.
Also, it opens New perspectives on the formation and evolution of planetary systems in extreme conditions.
«This discovery was completely unexpected, because our observations were not aimed at looking for a planet with this orbital configuration. It was a great surprise, “concluded Triaud.
ExtraSolar planets: a universe of possibilities. So far over 7,400 extrasolar planets have been identified (some still to be confirmed) in more than 5,000 planetary systems. The search for new worlds continues to evolve thanks to advanced tools such as the James Webb Space Telescope, which has already revolutionized our understanding of the universe. The exoplanets discovered so far vary enormously for dimensions and characteristics: some are giants gaseous similar to Jupiter, while others are super lands, more massive rock planets of the earth.
