A new planet outside the solar system ‘TOI-6651b’

An international team of scientists led by Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad has discovered a new planet outside the solar system, 'TOI-6651b'.

About TOI-6651b:

• It is five times larger and 60 times heavier than Earth, which is a planet of Sub-Saturn class.
  • The size of the planets of Sub-Saturn class is between Neptune and Saturn.
• It has been discovered using 'PRL Advanced Radial Velocity Abu Sky Search-2' (PARAS-2).
  • PARAS-2 is a high-level spectroscope mounted on PRL's 2.5 meter telescope in Mount Abu, Rajasthan.
• Located 690 light years from the Sun, TOI-6651b is the third densest planet of the sub-Saturn class, located on the edge of the Neptunian Desert.
  • The Neptunian Desert is a region of known exoplanet bodies where planets orbiting near stars are rare.
• According to the study published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, TOI-6651b orbits its host Sun-like star in just 5 days.
• It is orbiting very close to its parent star, so this region receives strong radiation from the star itself.
  • In such a situation, the nearby planets will be unable to maintain their gaseous atmosphere for long due to evaporation and only a rocky core will remain in the remnant. 
• TOI-6651b exoplanet has a very large core composed of iron-rich metals (about 87% of the planet’s total mass) while the remaining mass consists of a low-density mantle of hydrogen and helium.
  • TOI-6651b was also formerly a gas giant planet but has cooled to its current state over the years due to some tidal processes.
• Its surface temperature was measured to be 1,500 degrees Kelvin (about 1,200 ℃), ruling out the possibility of TOI-6651b being habitable.