Astronomers Stunned By Discovery Of Planet Orbiting At Wild Angle

Astronomers Stunned by Discovery of Planet Orbiting at Wild Angle In a groundbreaking finding, a team of researchers has identified a planet orbiting its star at an astonishing angle, defying explanation. The planet, TOI-3884b, has an orbital axis that differs from its star’s rotation axis by approximately 62 degrees, a significant misalignment that has left scientists intrigued.

According to a report on ScienceDaily, the discovery was made possible by the use of advanced instruments, including the multicolor MuSCAT3 and MuSCAT4, installed on the Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) 2-meter telescopes. By recording three separate transits of the planet across its star, researchers were able to gather valuable data about the starspots, dark regions on the star’s surface. Analysis of the light curves revealed that the starspots are approximately 200 K cooler than the surrounding stellar surface, covering about 15% of the visible area of the star.

The team conducted an extended photometric monitoring program, tracking the star’s brightness over several months, which allowed them to determine the star’s rotation period of 11. 05 days. The rotation period matched the shifts in starspot position seen in the transit data, enabling researchers to piece together the three ← →