HomelandWith the help of the CHEOPS space telescope, a team of European astronomers has discovered four new small exoplanets that are otherwise difficult to detect.

According to scientists, these are four minor planets of the Neptune class, or gas dwarfs, whose surface temperatures reach 217-277 degrees Celsius. These planets are smaller, cooler and harder to find than so-called hot Jupiters, the most common of previously discovered exoplanets.

Scientists used data from the CHEEOPS telescope and the TESS satellite to find these small exoplanets.

Scientists have named the discovered exoplanets TOI 5678 b and HIP 9618 c, which are about the same size as, or slightly smaller than, Neptune. Its radii are 4.9 and 3.4 Earth radii respectively. TOI 5678 b has a mass of 20 times that of Earth and HIP 9618 c has a mass of 7.5 times that of Earth.

According to Dr. Solin Ulmer Moll of the University of Geneva, knowing the size and mass of the planet, scientists can determine its density and get an idea of ​​its composition.

He says, “But the small planets of Neptune are not enough to determine the density. Because there are many hypotheses about the composition of the planets: rocks with a high percentage of gases or planets rich in water and vapor in their atmosphere.”

Along the same lines, astronomers from Hungary and Britain discovered two small exoplanets, named HD 22946d and HD 15906 b. The first radius is 2.6 times greater than the Earth’s radius, the second radius – 2.2 times greater.

All information about these discoveries is published in Astronomy & Astrophysics and the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Source: (TASS)