Discovery of a “Hot” planet that welcomes a new year every 22 days
An international team of astronomers has discovered a new type of “hot Jupiter” exoplanet orbiting a rapidly rotating F-type star, completing a year in just 22 days.
According to a research paper published in the arXiv journal, the newly discovered planet, named TOI-4641 b, may be four times larger than Jupiter in our solar system.
Astronomers used NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) to detect the transit signal in the light curve of TOI-4641. They specified that the newly discovered planet has a radius about 0.73 times that of Jupiter, and its maximum mass is calculated to be 3.87 times that of Jupiter.
The scientists explained, “TOI-4641 b is a bright and fast-rotating F-type star, with a rotation speed of about 86.3 km/s. The planetary nature of this signal was confirmed through photometric and spectroscopic follow-up.”
The host star, TOI-4641 (also known as TIC 436873727), is located approximately 286 light-years away, with a radius about 1.72 times that of the Sun, making it around 41% larger than our Sun.
The star is estimated to be 2.69 billion years old, with a metallicity of -0.09. Its effective temperature is found to be 6560 Kelvin (6286 degrees Celsius).
According to the scientists’ observations, TOI-4641 b orbits its host star every 22.09 days in a well-aligned orbit, at a distance of approximately 0.173 astronomical units, making it one of the longest-orbiting planets around a fast-rotating hot star.
The “hot Jupiter” category includes giant gaseous planets with orbital periods ranging from 10 to 200 days, making them challenging targets for detection through the transit method and radial velocity follow-up studies.
