Central Idea

• A new Jupiter-size exoplanet with the highest density known till this date has been discovered by an international team of scientists at the Exoplanet Research Group of the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad.
• Massive giant exoplanets are defined as those with a mass greater than four times that of Jupiter.

About the Exoplanet TOI4603b

• The exoplanet is found around the star called TOI4603 or HD 245134.
• It has a mass 13 times greater than that of Jupiter and a density of approximately 14 g/cm3.
• Initially, NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) declared TOI4603 as a possible candidate to host a secondary body of unknown nature.
• Using PARAS, scientists confirmed the secondary body as a planet, and it was named TOI 4603b or HD 245134b.
• The exoplanet is located 731 light years away and orbits a sub-giant F-type star TOI4603 every 7.24 days.

Note: An exoplanet, short for “extra-solar planet,” is a planet that orbits a star other than our Sun. These planets are located outside of our solar system and are not part of our planetary system.

Unprecedented Density and Proximity

• TOI 4603b is one of the most massive and densest giant planets discovered to date.
• It orbits very close to its host star at a distance less than 1/10th the distance between our Sun and Earth.
• Comparisons between the TOI-4603 star-planet system and the Sun-Mercury and Sun-Jupiter systems highlight the close proximity of TOI-4603 b to its star.
• The exoplanet is situated more than 50 times closer to its star than Jupiter is to the Sun.
• TOI-4603b is 13 times more massive than Jupiter.

Utilization of Indigenous Technology

• The discovery of this massive exoplanet was made using the indigenously made PRL Advanced Radial-velocity Abu-sky Search spectrograph (PARAS) at the 1.2 m telescope of PRL at its Gurushikhar Observatory in Mt. Abu.
• The mass of the planet was measured precisely using PARAS.

Uniqueness of the Discovery

• The planet falls into the transition mass range of massive giant planets and low-mass brown dwarfs, with masses ranging from 11 to 16 times the mass of Jupiter.
• Only fewer than five exoplanets are currently known in this mass range.
• The rarity of such discoveries makes this finding significant.

Insights into Formation and Evolution

• The exoplanet has a surface temperature of 1670 K and is likely undergoing high-eccentricity tidal migration with an eccentricity value of approximately 0.3.
• The detection of such systems provides valuable insights into the formation, migration, and evolution mechanisms of massive exoplanets.

India’s Contribution to Exoplanet Discoveries

• This marks the third exoplanet discovery by India and the PRL scientists using the PARAS spectrograph and the PRL 1.2m telescope.
• Previous discoveries include K2-236b in 2018 and TOI-1789b in 2021.

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