Brazilian Astronomers have discovered two new planets orbiting a star much similar to our sun named HIP 68468. The two planets have been called super Neptune and super-Earth. These are the first planets discovered by the Brazilian astronomers since 2015 when a planet much similar to Jupiter was discovered.
According to Astronomer Jorge Melendez associated with the Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences which is affiliated with the Sao Paulo revealed that the objective of the research was to compare the solar system with the other planetary systems around the world. The planetary environment around the HIP 68468 is much different from the other systems including the Earth.
The mass of both the planets was much akin to Earth and Neptune, but both the planets orbit very close to its parent star. It hints that the planets must have migrated from the outer orbits to interior orbits. The super Neptune which has been designated as HIP 68468c has a mass that is one and a half times greater than the planet Neptune. However, it is orbiting at a distance which is 70 percent of the Earth-Sun distance.
On the other hand, the super-Earth is thrice the mass of Earth and has been designated as HIP 68468b. It is orbiting at a distance which is barely 3 percent of the distance from Earth to the Sun. In other words, It is practically struck to its parent star. The HIP 68468 lies some 300 light-years away from the Earth.
The parent star must have swallowed up a planet in the past. This is indicated by the high levels of Lithium in the star. Lithium is seen mostly on planets and is rarely observed in the composition of the stars. The latest discovery was made by the European Southern Observatory in Chile’s northern Atacama Desert.
