Discovery! Newfound exoplanet is 4th 'hot Neptune' ever found

image via Space.com

December 9, 2024, 5:00 PM

• •Scientists have discovered a new planet that is roughly the size of Neptune but orbits extremely close to its host star.
• •The planet, designated TOI-3261 b, belongs to a rare category known as the 'hot Neptune desert'.
• •Scientists believe that the planet may have initially been Jupiter-sized, gradually losing mass over time.

NASA's TESS satellite has discovered a Neptune-sized planet closely orbiting its host star. The planet, designated TOI-3261 b, is only the fourth object of its kind ever identified. It belongs to a rare category known as the 'hot Neptune desert,' so named because so few such planets exist. Scientists have proposed numerous hypotheses to explain the scarcity of hot Neptunes, including that they may have initially been Jupiter-sized, gradually losing mass over time, or that they might have formed farther from their host star, where conditions allowed them to retain their atmospheres before migrating to their current close orbits. More information will be gleaned through future observations, including infrared studies with the James Webb Space Telescope.

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