TESS discovers a rocky planet glowing with molten lava while being squeezed by a nearby planet

Astrophysicist Stephen Cain of the University of California, Riverside had to double-check his calculations. He wasn’t sure if the planet he was studying was as extreme as it seemed. TESS discovers a rocky planet glowing with molten lava while being squeezed by a nearby planet 0 17 hours ago 0 Astronomy and Space and Planetary Science Editor’s note TESS discovers a rocky planet glowing with molten lava while being squeezed by a nearby planet Written by Jules Bernstein, University of California, Riverside Harassed by neighbors, Earth glows with lava Illustration of a volcanic exoplanet.

Astrophysicist Stephen Cain of the University of California, Riverside had to double-check his calculations. He wasn’t sure if the planet he was studying was as extreme as it seemed. Kaine did not expect to learn that the planet in this distant star system is covered in so many active volcanoes that it takes on a fiery red hue when viewed from a distance. “It was one of those eureka moments where you’re like, ‘Wow, this is amazing that this actually exists,'” Kane said. An article about this discovery was published in an astronomical journal. NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), launched in 2018, searches for exoplanets (planets outside our solar system) orbiting the brightest stars in the sky, including stars that may harbor life. Explore. Kane was studying a star system called HD 104067, about 66 light-years from the Sun, which was already known to contain a giant planet. TESS had just discovered a new rocky planet signal in this system. As Kain collected data on this planet, he unexpectedly discovered another planet, bringing the total number of known planets in this system to three. The new planet discovered by TESS is a rocky planet like Earth, but 30% larger. However, unlike Earth, it has much in common with Io, Jupiter’s innermost rocky moon and the most volcanically active object in the solar system. “This is a terrestrial planet, which I’m going to call Io on steroids,” Cain said. “He was constantly forced into situations where there were volcanic eruptions. At wavelengths of light, you would see a planet burning red with molten lava on the surface.” Kane calculated that the surface temperature of the new planet TOI-6713.01 would be 2,600 Kelvin. This is hotter than some stars. Gravity plays a role in volcanic activity on both Io and this planet. Io is very close to Jupiter. Kane explained that Jupiter’s other moons force Io into an elliptical or “eccentric” orbit around the planet, which itself has a very strong gravitational pull. “If it weren’t for the other moons, Io would be in a circular orbit around the planet and its surface would be quiet. Instead, Jupiter’s gravity squeezes Io so hard that volcanic Eruptions are happening all the time,” Kane said. Similarly, the HD 104067 system has two other planets that are further away from the star than this new planet. These outer planets also force the inner rocky planets into eccentric orbits around the star, compressing them as they orbit and rotate. Kane likens this scenario to racquetball. Because the small rubber ball is constantly being hit with a racket, it bounces harder and gets hotter. This effect is called tidal energy, a term that refers to the gravitational influence of one object on another. On Earth, tides are caused primarily by the moon’s gravitational pull on the oceans. In the future, Kane and his colleagues hope to measure the mass of the burning planet and find out its density. This tells us how much material is coming out of the volcano. Cain said that historically tidal effects on planets have not been a major focus of exoplanet research. Perhaps this discovery will change that. “This tells us a lot about the limits of how much energy we can inject into terrestrial planets and the consequences,” Cain said. “We know that stars contribute to the planet’s heat, but the bulk of the energy here is tidal, and that can’t be ignored.”

source: https://phys.org/journals/astronomical-journal/