2019 – Posted in: Daily News

EXOPLANET MAY RESEMBLE MOON OR MERCURY

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NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope
Planet LHS 3844b

News Flash

Using the data of NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, scientists have detected the light from the planet LHS 3844b, which is located 48.6 lightyears away from the Earth.

The LHS 3844b planet has a radius 1.3 times that of the Earth and it orbits a small, cool type of star called an M dwarf, which is the most common and long-lived type of star in the Milky Way.
The LHS 3844b planet was discovered in 2018 by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Satellite Survey (TESS) mission.

LHS 3844b planet

LHS 3844 b is an extrasolar planet located 48 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Indus. It orbits a red dwarf star named LHS 3844.
LHS 3844b planet is likely to lack the atmosphere.
Data also reveals that its surface may resemble that of the Earth’s Moon or the Mercury.
LHS 3844b could be covered in the same cooled volcanic material found in the dark areas of the surface of the Moon, called mare.
The LHS 3844b planet is most likely to be “tidally locked,” which means that when one side of a planet is permanently facing the star.
The LHS 3844b planet radiates a lot of infrared light.

NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope

The Spitzer Space Telescope (SST), formerly the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF), is an infrared space telescope.
Spitzer is designed to detect infrared radiation, which is primarily heat radiation.
It was launched in 2003 and is planned to be retired in January 2020.
The goal of the mission is to provide a unique, infrared view of the universe and allow us to peer into regions of space that are hidden from optical telescopes.

Source: NASA

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