Exoplanets

  • IASbaba
  • January 17, 2023
  • 0
Science and Technology
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Context: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recently announced that the James Webb Space Telescope has discovered its first new exoplanet.

  • Researchers have labelled the planet as LHS 475 b, and it’s roughly the same size as Earth.

About Exoplanets:

  • An exoplanet is any planet beyond our solar system.
  • Most orbit other stars, but free-floating exoplanets, called rogue planets, orbit the galactic centre and are untethered to any star.
  • They can be gas giants bigger than Jupiter or as small and rocky as Earth.
  • They are also known to have different kinds of temperatures — boiling hot to freezing cold.
  • Scientists rely on indirect methods for discovering exoplanets, such as the transit method, which is measuring the dimming of a star that happens to have a planet pass in front of it.

About red dwarf stars:

  • Such types of stars are the most common and smallest in the universe.
  • As they don’t radiate much light, it’s very tough to detect them with the naked eye from Earth.
  • However, as red dwarfs are dimmer than other stars, it is easier to find exoplanets that surround them.
  • Therefore, red dwarfs are a popular target for planet hunting.

Source: Indian Express

Previous Year Question

Q.1) Which one of the following statements best reflects the idea behind the “Fractional Orbital Bombardment System” often talked about in media?

  1. A hypersonic missile is launched into space to counter the asteroid approaching the Earth and explode it in space.
  2. A spacecraft lands on another planet after making several orbital motions.
  3. A missile is put into a stable orbit around the Earth and deorbits over a target on the Earth.
  4. A spacecraft moves along a comet with the same speed and places a probe on its surface.

 

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