Scientists have recently discovered an Earth-sized Planet. This planet orbits around its star every 3.14 days.
Science X/Phys.org on September 21st reported “In a delightful alignment of astronomy and mathematics, scientists at MIT and elsewhere have discovered a ‘pi Earth'”. It is called as “pi Earth” because its orbit reminds us of the universal mathematical constant “pi”.
Data from the NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope K2 mission helped scientists in discovering this planet from the data collected in 2017. The research team confirmed that the signals were of a planet orbiting its star. They did this with the help of SPECULOOS, a network of ground based telescopes. The planet is orbiting its star currently with a pi-like period of 3.14 days to complete one round.
Details of the new planet
The new planet is labelled K2-315b. It is the 315th Planetary system discovered with the help of K2 data. The estimated radius of K2-315b is 0.95 that of Earth which is almost like that of Earth. It is orbiting a cool, low mass star which is about one-fifth the size of our Sun. The speed at which it orbits its star is 81 kilometres per second. It circles its star every 3.14 days.
The mass of the new planet is not yet determined. Due to the heat on its surface about 450 kelvins (350 degree Fahrenheit), this new planet may not be habitable.
More reading at: Phys.org – Astronomers discover an Earth-sized ‘pi planet’ with a 3.14-day orbit
Picture Credit: NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle, Christine Daniloff, MIT
