If you thought that things could not get any weirder regarding exoplanets than they already are, you’re wrong. These cosmic objects seem destined to amaze us more and more with every new exploration. The amount of wonders our own solar system is harboring is high enough, but trying to guess how many will we find on other star systems light-years away is truly beyond imagination.
Almost all the exoplanets humanity has found until now, over 4,000, have in common the fact that they are located within the flat disc of the galactic plane. But not the same goes on for LHS 1815b, a massive rocky planet that deviates a lot from the galactic plane.
5,870 light-years deviation
It sounds like a huge distance, and it really is. This is the portion of space that separates the LHS 1815b planet from its galactic plane. And the planet is way more massive than Earth: 8.7 times, while it’s only 1.088 times the size of our planet.
The newfound exoplanet that ‘ran away from home’ was discovered by NASA’s planet-hunting space telescope TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite), and the astronomers were shocked.
The researchers involved made the following statements:
The TESS survey can provide a large sample of solar neighbourhood transiting planets across the whole sky. All planet host stars are bright enough to have their RV [radial velocity – the planet-identifying wiggle] measured by the Gaia survey
It will be an excellent opportunity to study the difference in the planet evolution between the thin and thick discs.
The discovery of the LHS 1815b exoplanet is truly remarkable, and we can’t be anything else than excited about what other huge discoveries will come next. Trying to find out what exactly dwells on the ‘rebel’ exoplanet is the next big step astronomers have to make.
The study paper of the LHS 1815b was accepted by The Astronomical Journal.
