Scientists have discovered the most distant exoplanet yet, and it looks a lot like a planet significantly closer to home, new research has revealed.
About 17,000 light-years from our solar system, K2-2016-BLG-0005Lb is orbiting a star some 60% the size of the sun, and as far as officials can tell, it looks a lot like Jupiter.
Scientists say the newly-discovered planet has a mass just slightly bigger with 1.1 times that of Jupiter and sits 4.4 astronomical units from its star, whereas the gas giant is 5.2 astronomical units away from our sun.
K2-2016-BLG-0005Lb was discovered using the Kepler space telescope and a technique called gravitational microlensing, making it the first confirmed exoplanet to be discovered using this method.
Kepler has already discovered more than 3,000 exoplanets and more than 3,000 additional potential candidates; however, those were spotted using a method called “transit method” that detects faint and regular dips in starlight, suggesting that a planet is orbiting the star.
Gravitational microlensing is considered to be better suited for detecting exoplanets that are more distant than exoplanets detected through the transit method. The gravity of a planet is strong enough that it causes a curvature in space-time. When the planet passes in front of a star, the curvature acts like a magnifying lens, causing a slight increase in starlight reaching our system.
Scientists say the chances of such an event occurring are infinitesimally small, between tens of millions to hundreds of millions in one. But because there are hundreds of millions of stars between our solar system and the center of our galaxy, the law of averages dictate that the astronomical lottery ticket is bound to hit once in a while. In fact, Kepler has already detected five such anomalies, though the other four have not been confirmed as exoplanets just yet.
The discovery proves encouraging for astronomers as the Kepler telescope is not designed for gravitational microlensing. The European Space Agency is set to launch a gravitational microlensing-capable device called the Euclid in 2023, while NASA plans to launch its own gravitational microlensing telescope, called the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, within the next five years.
Astronomers hope that by observing other systems, scientists will discover clues about our own solar system. As Jupiter is thought to have been instrumental in our solar system’s formation, discovering planets like K2-2016-BLG-0005Lb will give authorities information they can use to test that theory.