Astronomers Stunned by Discovery of Massive Exoplanet 35 Times Earth's Size

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): Unraveling the deep mysteries of space, scientists have discovered a new, huge and mysterious planet, which has been named Kepler-139f. This unique planet is 35 times heavier than Earth and twice as big as Neptune. Its presence has not been detected directly, but on the basis of unusual movements in the orbits of other planets revolving around its star. The report related to this important discovery has been published in the prestigious journal 'The Astrophysical Journal Letters'.

How was this 'invisible' planet discovered?

This planet has been discovered with the help of old data from NASA's Kepler telescope and a special technique 'Transit Timing Variation' (TTV). Usually the Kepler telescope detects planets that pass directly in front of their star, causing a slight drop in the star's light.

However, Kepler-139f does not pass in front of its star in a way that can be seen directly. While studying the planets already discovered in the star system called Kepler-139, scientists found that there was a mysterious pull or gravitational effect in their orbits, which pointed to an unseen object. Based on this suspicion, scientists Caleb Lamers and Joshua Winn analyzed the data in depth and confirmed the presence of this hidden giant planet.

Why is Kepler-139f special?

The discovery of Kepler-139f is an important milestone in astronomy, as it represents a 'hidden world' that was almost impossible to find using conventional methods. The planet is special for its huge size - it is 35 times heavier than Earth and twice the size of Neptune. Its most unique feature is its 11-degree inclined orbit, due to which it is not seen passing directly in front of its star and had remained hidden from the direct view of telescopes until now. The planet completes one orbit around its star in 355 days. This discovery has proved that waiting for planets to pass in front of their star (transit method) is not the only way to find them, and it is strong evidence that there may be many such giant planets in the universe which are beyond the reach of our current technology.

Future hopes

Scientists believe that this discovery will open new avenues for the future. The European Space Agency's PLATO mission, scheduled to be launched in 2026, could revolutionise the field. This mission will not only measure older planets with greater accuracy using the TTV technique, but will also have the potential to uncover many other hidden planets like Kepler-139f.

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