Scientists have discovered a planet 31 light years from Earth

 

An iron-rich planet discovered in a nearby stellar system could help scientists understand the mystery of how the planet Mercury formed in our own solar system, writes the journal Science.

The newly described planet is about 31 light-years away, according to a paper published in a scientific journal. Astronomers have not seen it directly, but have been able to estimate its size and mass by observing the effects of its existence on the orbiting star. This planet seems to be largely made of iron.

  "From our measurements, we find that this exoplanet is smaller and less massive than Earth," said Christine Lam, a researcher at the Institute for Planetary Research at the German Aerospace Center in Berlin. "It may be similar to Mercury, which consists mainly of iron."

The planet known as "GJ 367 b" orbits so close to its red dwarf star that it only takes about eight Earth hours to make one orbit. Temperatures on the planet's surface can reach 1,500 degrees Celsius.

  "We can imagine that this planet is probably like a molten planet, at a temperature at which many metals can begin to melt. Maybe there's lava and maybe there's no atmosphere, but we don't know yet, "Lam said." What we do know is that this planet is quite dense and has a Mercury-like interior. "

As this particular planet orbits a nearby bright star, scientists should be able to obtain even more information about it with the James Webb Space Telescope, which will soon be launched on December 22.

  If the ocean of magma covered this planet and it was possible to float on its surface and look at the sky, the red star orbiting would look 30 times bigger in the sky than the Sun in the Earth's sky, says Joshua Wynn. an astronomer at Princeton University.

While scientists have discovered nearly 5,000 planets orbiting distant stars in recent years, he says it is rare to find ones orbiting their stars in less than one Earth day.