Skip to main content

Discoveries

Our first task was to estimate the planet's radius and mid-transit time by creating a light curve based on this data in the Allesfitter program. The program evaluated our curve and determined how accurate we were and we obtained the correct value to compare with our result. We saw that our estimate of the transit depth had 2,6% deflection from Allesfitter, that was not bad for beginners. From the Allesfitter program we also received more data - the mass of the planet, temperature and time period… (see attached pictures). 

Radius

A light curve shows percentage values of light coming from the star in time. The difference between the smallest measured value and the maximum is called transit depth. It’s approximately the ratio of the area of the planet's disc and the area of the star's disc. With this ratio, we determined the planet radius (see calculation below)

Volume, density

The planet's radius is ca. 2.45 larger than of our planet Earth, which means its volume is approximately 15 times larger, as we can see in the formula for volume (calculations below). At the same time, it’s 9.7 heavier than Earth - we know that from Allesfitter. With these two numbers, we determined the density of the exoplanet. Turns out that TOI-560 c is way lighter than Earth and so it’s made from lighter material.

What’s the planet like?

The density of the exoplanet is similar to the density of Mars, so we assume that its composition can be also similar. Mars is a terrestrial planet assumed to be made of silicates. It doesn’t have a ferromagnetic nucleus and we expect that the exoplanet doesn’t have one either. Otherwise, the rest of the planet would have to be made from gas - to be extremely light -  and that’s less likely because of many reasons, for example the high temperature on the planet. But if this hypothesis would be right, it would be an obstacle in speculations about the habitability of this planet, because it would be missing the magnetosphere, like Mars. On Earth or Neptune, their ferromagnetic nucleus creates a magnetic field, called a magnetosphere, which protects the planet from external influences such as the solar wind - a stream of charged particles from a star. Without a magnetosphere, life is impossible because of the ionization of cosmic radiation. Furthermore, any space objects can collide with the planet and damage its surface and its atmosphere (if it would have one).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

About Hack an exoplanet

"Hack an exoplanet" is a new ESA Education project. (If you haven't heard about ESA, it’s the European version of NASA. More information here ) The year 2023 is the first year of this challenge. The project is designed for students between 11 and 19 years old from the whole world. In order to be able to join the challenge you don't need relevant education or any courses. Everyone can participate.  We learned about ESA's project from the Deputy Director of our high school, who sent the informational email to all students. The project immediately impressed us. There are seminars all over the world for all applicants, which are called "hackathons". We joined one of them, which took place in Prague Planetarium from 2 till 3 of June. We spent 24 hours in the building dedicated to the exploration of the universe. We intensively worked on our project, but well, we slept there too. 24 hours is too long for staying awake, the longer after a full day at school. Bu...
Post a Comment
Read more

What we know about TOI-560 c

  TOI-560 c was discovered in 2021 by the TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite). Two years later, ESA’s satellite Cheops came to explore the planet. The Characterising Exoplanet Satellite, in short Cheops, was launched in 2019 and since then it has been studying exoplanets. It characterizes already discovered exoplanets by transit photometry even more precisely than by their discovery. This method records intensity of the light coming illuminated by a star. When a planet transits a star, it is recorded as a weakening of the light. By analyzing this data scientists (and now we) are able to calculate a lot of parameters about the studied planet. TOI-560 c has also the positive that it’s situated in our plane of observation, so we get more accurate data from the observation.
Post a Comment
Read more