Latest news with #KoreaMicrolensingTelescopeNetwork
India Today
05-05-2025
- Science
- India Today
Does Earth 2.0 exist? New discovery points to yes
Does Earth 2.0 exist? New discovery points to yes 05 May, 2025 Credit: Nasa, Getty Using the Korea Microlensing Telescope Network (KMTNet), scientists found that super-Earths—planets larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune—are more common in the universe than previously believed. New Discovery The discovery was made using microlensing, a method that detects planets by observing how their gravity bends and brightens the light of a distant star. Microlensing Technique One such planet, OGLE-2016-BLG-0007, has twice Earth's mass and orbits farther from its star than Saturn does from the sun. Key Finding The study grouped exoplanets into two broad types—super-Earths/Neptune-like planets and gas giants—and found that roughly one in three stars likely hosts a super-Earth with a wide orbit. Planet Patterns These findings give new insights into how planetary systems form, but researchers say more data is needed to confirm which planet formation theories are correct. Scientific Impact The study was led by teams in China, Korea, and the U.S., including scientists at Ohio State University who helped design the KMTNet cameras. It was published in Science and supported by multiple international science institutions. Global Effort
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
'Super-Earths' May Be Surprisingly Common, Scientists Reveal
Earth-like exoplanets might be more common throughout the Milky Way than previously believed, astronomers report in a new study. The researchers discovered an unusual super-Earth orbiting its star at a Jupiter-like distance, an orbital range for which only the frequency of larger planets – gas giants and ice giants – has been determined so far. "We found a 'super-Earth' – meaning it's bigger than our home planet but smaller than Neptune – in a place where only planets thousands or hundreds of times more massive than Earth were found before," says lead author and astrophysicist Weicheng Zang of the Harvard and Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). In addition to finding this seemingly quirky world, the authors combined their discovery with a larger sample of exoplanet data from a microlensing survey. Their findings indicate this planet might not be quite so quirky after all. The researchers studied changes in apparent brightness from the planet's host star, which they incorporated into broader data from the Korea Microlensing Telescope Network (KMTNet) survey, a trio of telescopes located in Australia, Chile, and South Africa. By examining mass ratios between a large volume of exoplanets and host stars, the researchers shed new light on our galaxy's planetary demographics. Their results suggest super-Earths are not limited to short-period orbits near their host stars, which is where they've primarily been found. These intriguing exoplanets can also exist farther away, with orbital periods more akin to those of our Solar System's gas giants. It's generally harder to detect planets orbiting farther from their stars, but based on this study, Zang and his colleagues estimate one out of every three stars in the Milky Way should host a super-Earth with a Jupiter-like orbit. "Scientists knew there were more small planets than big planets, but in this study, we were able to show that within this overall pattern, there are excesses and deficits," says co-author Andrew Gould, an astronomer at Ohio State University. "It's very interesting." The study relied on a phenomenon called gravitational microlensing, in which a massive celestial object (serving as the lens) passes between an observer and a bright background object like a star. If the lens is massive enough, it gravitational field will warp spacetime enough to cause the path of light from the background source to curve on its way to the observer, like light bending through a magnifying glass. This creates a temporary spike in the object's brightness, which may last for minutes or months, depending on the alignment. The new study focuses on a microlensing event known as OGLE-2016-BLG-0007, first detected in early 2016. Microlensing events are rare, and only a fraction of known exoplanets have been detected this way. The technique is well-suited for revealing exoplanets orbiting farther from their stars, however. The new study is the largest of its kind to date, featuring three times as many exoplanets as previous samples, including many smaller ones. While previous research has shown how stars can host a variety of exoplanet sizes in relatively tight orbits, the new study points to comparable planetary diversity – and profusion – in the outer regions of these planetary systems, too. "This measurement of the planet population from planets somewhat larger than Earth all the way to the size of Jupiter and beyond shows us that planets, and especially super-Earths, in orbits outside the Earth's orbit are abundant in the galaxy," says co-author Jennifer Yee, an observational astronomer at the CfA's Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. The term 'super-Earth' typically refers to the mass of an exoplanet, not its surface conditions or habitability, about which few details are available. Still, research like this may help demystify planetary formation and distribution in the Milky Way, building upon what our own Solar System can teach us. "This result suggests that in Jupiter-like orbits, most planetary systems may not mirror our Solar System," says co-author Youn Kil Jung of the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute that operates the KMTNet. These findings suggest our galaxy may teem with a wide variety of exoplanets. It also offers clues about how the different types of exoplanets form, but we still need a lot more data – which is easier said than done. "Finding a microlensing star event is hard. Finding a microlensing star with a planet is hard squared," says co-author Richard Pogge, an astronomer at Ohio State. "We have to look at hundreds of millions of stars to find even a hundred of these things." The study was published in Science. JWST Confirms Coldest Exoplanet Ever Found, Circling Its Dead Star Defunct Soviet Spacecraft Set to Crash to Earth in Fiery End to 53-Year Orbit Giant Structure in Deep Space Challenges Our Understanding of The Universe
Business Mayor
29-04-2025
- Science
- Business Mayor
Astronomers find Earth-like exoplanets common across the cosmos
Using the Korea Microlensing Telescope Network (KMTNet), an international team of researchers has discovered that super-Earth exoplanets are more common across the universe than previously thought, according to a new study. By studying light anomalies made by the newly found planet's host star and combining their results with a larger sample from a KMTNet microlensing survey, the team found that super-Earths can exist as far from their host star as our gas giants are from the sun, said Andrew Gould, co-author of the study and professor emeritus of astronomy at The Ohio State University. 'Scientists knew there were more small planets than big planets, but in this study, we were able to show that within this overall pattern, there are excesses and deficits,' he said. 'It's very interesting.' While it can be relatively easy to locate worlds that orbit close to their star, planets with wider paths can be difficult to detect. Still, researchers further estimated that for every three stars, there should be at least one super-Earth present with a Jupiter-like orbital period, suggesting these massive worlds are extremely prevalent across the universe, said Gould, whose early theoretical research helped develop the field of planetary microlensing. The findings in this study were made via microlensing, an observational effect that occurs when the presence of mass warps the fabric of space-time to a detectable degree. When a foreground object, such as a star or planet, passes between an observer and a more distant star, light is curved from the source, causing an apparent increase in the object's brightness that can last anywhere from a few hours to several months. Astronomers can use these fluctuations, or bumps, in brightness to help locate alien worlds unlike our own. In this case, microlensing signals were used to locate OGLE-2016-BLG-0007, a super-Earth with a mass ratio roughly double that of Earth's and an orbit wider than Saturn's. These observations allowed the team to divide exoplanets into two groups, one that consists of super-Earths and Neptune-like planets and the other comprising gas giants like Jupiter or Saturn. This discovery opens new doors for planetary system science: Having a better understanding of exoplanet distribution can reveal new insights about the processes by which they form and evolve. The study, led by researchers in China, Korea and at Harvard University and the Smithsonian Institution in the United States, was recently published in the journal Science . To explain their results, researchers also compared their findings to predictions made from theoretical simulations of planet formation. Their results showed that while exoplanets can be separated into groups by mass and makeup, the mechanisms that may produce them can vary. 'The dominant theory of gas-giant formation is through runaway gas accretion, but other people have said that it could be both accretion and gravitational instability,' said Gould. 'We're saying we can't distinguish between those two yet.' Doing so will likely require greater swaths of long-term data from specialized systems such as KMTNet and other microlensing instruments like it, said Richard Pogge, another co-author of the study and a professor of astronomy at Ohio State. 'Finding a microlensing star event is hard. Finding a microlensing star with a planet is hard-squared,' he said. 'We have to look at hundreds of millions of stars to find even a hundred of these things.' These alignments are so rare that only 237 out of the more than 5,000 exoplanets ever discovered have been identified using the microlensing method. Now, with the help of three powerful custom-built telescopes located in South Africa, Chile and Australia, the KMTNet system routinely allows scientists to scour the cosmos for these amazing events, said Pogge. Most notably, it was scientists in Ohio State's Imaging Sciences Laboratory who designed and built the Korean Microlensing Telescope Network Cameras (KMTCam) that the system relies on to identify exoplanets. And as technology continues to evolve, having dedicated, global collaborations like this one will turn visions of scientific theory into real discoveries, said Pogge. 'We're like paleontologists reconstructing not only the history of the universe we live in but the processes that govern it,' he said. 'So helping to bring both of those pieces together into one picture has been enormously satisfying.' Other members of Ohio State's ISL team include Bruce Atwood, Tom O'Brien, Mark Johnson, Mark Derwent, Chris Colarosa, Jerry Mason, Daniel Pappalardo and Skip Shaller. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation, Tsinghua University, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the China Manned Space Project, Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange and the National Research Foundation of Korea.
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Super-Earth exoplanets more common across universe than thought: Study
A team of scientists has discovered that super-Earth exoplanets are more common across the universe than previously team studied light anomalies made by the newly found planet's host star and combined their results with a larger sample from the Korea Microlensing Telescope Network (KMTNet) microlensing survey. Researchers came to the conclusion that super-Earths can exist as far from their host star as our gas giants are from the sun."Scientists knew there were more small planets than big planets, but in this study, we were able to show that within this overall pattern, there are excesses and deficits," said Andrew Gould, co-author of the study and professor emeritus of astronomy at The Ohio State University. Researchers have also stressed that it can be relatively easy to locate worlds that orbit close to their star, planets with wider paths can be difficult to detect. Still, scientists further estimated that for every three stars, there should be at least one super-Earth present with a Jupiter-like orbital period, suggesting these massive worlds are extremely prevalent across the in the journal Science, the study highlights that exoplanets classified as super-Earths are commonly observed on short-period orbits, close to their host stars, but their abundance on wider orbits is poorly constrained. Gravitational microlensing is sensitive to exoplanets on wide orbits."We observed the microlensing event OGLE-2016-BLG-0007, which indicates an exoplanet with a planet-to-star mass ratio roughly double the Earth-Sun mass ratio, on an orbit longer than Saturn's," said researchers in the study."We combined this event with a larger sample from a microlensing survey to determine the distribution of mass ratios for planets on wide orbits. We infer that there are ~0.35 super-Earth planets per star on Jupiter-like orbits. The observations are most consistent with a bimodal distribution, with separate peaks for super-Earths and gas giants. We suggest that this reflects differences in their formation processes." The findings in this study were made via microlensing, an observational effect that occurs when the presence of mass warps the fabric of space-time to a detectable degree. When a foreground object, such as a star or planet, passes between an observer and a more distant star, light is curved from the source, causing an apparent increase in the object's brightness that can last anywhere from a few hours to several months, according to a press release. Researchers stressed that astronomers can use these fluctuations, or bumps, in brightness to help locate alien worlds unlike our own. In this case, microlensing signals were used to locate OGLE-2016-BLG-0007, a super-Earth with a mass ratio roughly double that of Earth's and an orbit wider than Saturn's.
The Print
28-04-2025
- Science
- The Print
New Study reveals super-Earths could be prevalent around stars, according to astronomers
The discovery, made by an international team of researchers using the Korea Microlensing Telescope Network (KMTNet), challenges previous assumptions about the frequency and distribution of these intriguing planets. Ohio [US], April 27 (ANI): A recent study has revealed that super-Earth exoplanets, worlds that are larger than Earth but smaller than Uranus or Neptune, are far more common in the universe than previously believed. The research team, led by astronomers from Ohio State University, Harvard University, and institutions in China and Korea, discovered that super-Earths can orbit as far from their stars as Jupiter orbits the Sun, contradicting the earlier belief that these planets are typically found only in close proximity to their host stars. By studying light anomalies caused by gravitational microlensing, the team detected one such super-Earth, OGLE-2016-BLG-0007, which has a mass roughly twice that of Earth and an orbit wider than Saturn's. 'This study suggests that for every three stars, there is likely at least one super-Earth with a Jupiter-like orbital period,' said Andrew Gould, a professor emeritus of astronomy at Ohio State University and co-author of the study, adding, 'We are beginning to realize just how abundant these massive worlds are across the cosmos.' The team's discovery was made possible through the technique of microlensing, a phenomenon in which the light from a distant star is bent and magnified by the gravitational field of an object, such as a planet, passing in front of it. This effect allows astronomers to detect objects that would otherwise be difficult to observe directly. 'This study was a major step forward,' Gould said, adding, 'Scientists have long known that smaller planets are more common than large ones, but within this pattern, we've found excesses and deficits, offering new insights into planetary distribution.' Through microlensing, astronomers can detect planets at various distances from their stars, including those with wider orbits. This breakthrough helps to reveal the prevalence of super-Earths that exist beyond the inner solar system, offering a new perspective on how planets form and evolve in different environments. One of the most significant findings of the study is its challenge to the prevailing theories of planetary formation. While it was long believed that gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn formed through the process of runaway gas accretion, the new study suggests that the mechanisms behind the creation of these planets may vary and may include both accretion and gravitational instability. 'We cannot yet distinguish between the two leading theories of planet formation,' explained Gould, adding, 'While the dominant theory suggests gas-giant formation occurs through runaway gas accretion, other researchers propose a combination of accretion and gravitational instability. Our study adds to the complexity of these models.' The discovery of super-Earths was made possible by the KMTNet, a global network of telescopes strategically located in South Africa, Chile, and Australia. This network allows scientists to monitor millions of stars for microlensing events, providing valuable data on distant exoplanets. The technology that powers KMTNet's microlensing observations was designed by Ohio State's Imaging Sciences Laboratory (ISL). Richard Pogge, a co-author of the study and a professor of astronomy at Ohio State, noted the rarity of finding microlensing events and the significant effort required. 'Finding a microlensing star event is already difficult. Finding one with a planet is even harder,' Pogge said, adding, 'We need to observe hundreds of millions of stars to detect even a handful of these microlensing signals.' So far, only 237 out of the more than 5,000 exoplanets discovered to date have been identified using microlensing. However, with the continuous advancements in technology and the ongoing work of international collaborations like KMTNet, astronomers are hopeful that more discoveries will follow. The new findings have broader implications for understanding planetary system formation. The study revealed that exoplanets can be grouped by both their mass and composition, and it highlighted significant gaps in the distribution of certain types of planets. These insights will likely open new avenues for future research into how planets form, evolve, and interact with their host stars. 'We're reconstructing not only the history of the universe but also the processes that govern it,' said Pogge, adding, 'Bringing these pieces together into a coherent picture has been incredibly rewarding.' This study was published in the prestigious journal Science, marking a significant advancement in our understanding of exoplanet distribution and formation. The study was supported by a number of institutions, including the National Science Foundation, Tsinghua University, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, among others. As technology improves and global collaborations continue, astronomers are optimistic that even more discoveries about the prevalence and variety of exoplanets await, further shaping our understanding of the universe and the conditions that might allow life to thrive elsewhere. (ANI) This report is auto-generated from ANI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
