Interesting facts about exoplanets Is a great opportunity to learn more about the structure of the solar system. For a long time, astronomers did not have the opportunity to find and study such celestial bodies.
This was due to the fact that such space objects were small and, unlike stars, did not emit a glow. However, thanks to modern technologies, these problems have been eliminated by fully engaging in space exploration.
So, here are the most interesting facts about exoplanets.
- An exoplanet means any planet located in another star system.
- As of today, scientists have discovered over 4,100 exoplanets.
- The first exoplanets were discovered in the late 80s of the last century.
- The oldest known exoplanet is Kaptain-B, located 13 light years from Earth (see interesting facts about Earth).
- The exoplanet Kepler 78-B has almost the same dimensions as our planet. It is curious that it is 90 times closer to its star, as a result of which the temperature on its surface fluctuates between + 1500-3000 ⁰С.
- Did you know that as many as 9 exoplanets revolve around the star "HD 10180"? At the same time, it is possible that their number may be much higher.
- WASP-33 B is considered to be the hottest exoplanet discovered at 3200 ⁰С.
- The exoplanet closest to Earth is Alpha Centauri b.
- An interesting fact is that the total number of exoplanets in the Milky Way galaxy is now estimated at 100 billion!
- On the exoplanet HD 189733b, the wind speed exceeds 8500 m per second.
- WASP-17 b is the first planet discovered orbiting a star in the opposite direction to that of the star itself.
- OGLE-TR-56 is the first star to be discovered using the transit method. This method of searching for exoplanets is based on observing the motion of a planet against the background of a star.
