New planet is on edge of Hot Neptune desert (IMAGE)
Caption
Astronomers have found thousands of exoplanets (black dots) around stars in the Milky Way galaxy, but few Neptune-sized planets have been discovered in short-period orbits around their stars, creating what astronomers call a Hot Neptune desert (pink region, representing planets with radii 3-10 times that of Earth with orbital periods under 3 days). A new-found Neptune-sized planet (yellow star) suggests that they don’t survive long enough to detect. The planets on this chart were discovered when they crossed in front of or transited their star, dimming its light. Current techniques are limited to finding planets in close, short-period orbits, less than about 100 days.
Credit
Graphic by Steven Giacalone, using data courtesy of NASA
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