May 30, 2019 14:00:00

A new planet is discovered where it should not exist and named 'Forbidden Planet'

Astronomical and astrophysics group at the University of Warwick, headed by Dr. Richard West, discovered a planet smaller than Neptune and about three times larger than the Earth in an area called the '

Neptunia Desert ' that receives intense radiation from stars. . Normally, in the Neptunia desert, the surface gas on the surface of the planet evaporates due to high-temperature irradiation, leaving only the core of the rock, but newly discovered planets exist in the Neptunia desert with the gas remaining on the surface It is a very rare planet.

NGTS-4b: A sub-Neptune transiting in the desert | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society | Oxford Academic
https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/486/4/5094/4475622

The 'Forbidden' planet has been found in the 'Neptunian Desert'
https://phys.org/news/2019-05-forbidden-planet-neptunian.html

The official name of the planet discovered by the research group in the Neptunia Desert is 'NGTS-4b', and it is also called 'forbidden planet' by researchers. Forbidden planets were observed by the “ Next-Generation Transit Survey (NGTS)” conducted by the Paranal Observatory in the central part of the Atacama Desert in Chile for the purpose of “Extrasolar planet exploration”. In addition to the University of Warwick, the Geneva Observatory , the German Aerospace Center , the University of Chile and the University of Queens Belfast are involved in the observation of NGTS-4b.

NGTS-4b, which is smaller than Neptune and three times larger than Earth, is a planet with 20 times the mass of the earth and a radius 20% shorter than Neptune. The surface temperature is 1000 degrees Celsius and orbits the star in just 1.3 days. The reason why NGTS-4b is called 'forbidden planet' is where this planet exists, ie in the Neptunia desert.

The Neptunia desert was recognized as an area where planets as large as Neptune can not be found. The reason is that the Neptunia desert is strongly irradiated by stars. Even if the planet exists in the same area, the high temperature irradiation will evaporate the gas on the surface of the planet, leaving only the rock core. However, while NGTS-4b exists in the Neptunia desert, it keeps gas on the surface, so it seems that it is called 'the forbidden planet'. NGTS-4b is the first extrasolar planet discovered in the Neptunia desert.

When looking for new planets that have not yet been observed, astronomers look for starlight decay. It is thought that this dimmer was observed at the moment when the light was interrupted as the planet orbits the celestial body. Normally, only about 1% of the light can be captured from the earth, but it is possible to observe light reduction of up to 0.2% with NGTS of the Paranal Observatory, which leads to the discovery of many new planets. You are

Researchers say 'there should be no Neptune-sized planet originally' about the reason why NGTS-4b exists in the Neptunea Desert, 'it may be because it has moved to the Neptunea Desert within the last million years' Or, 'The atmosphere of NGTS-4b is very large, and it may be still being evaporated by heat.'

Dr. Richard West of the University of Warwick's Physics Department, who participated in the study, said, 'This planet must be tough because it exists in an area that was not expected to exist on a Neptune sized planet. 0.2 The fact that we were able to find the existence of a planet from a light reduction of less than% is truly amazing, as it has not been possible with conventional astronomical telescopes.

In addition, the research team seems to be examining the data so far to see if more planets can be found in the Neptunea Desert.