Three Exoplanets Larger Than Jupiter Confirmed as Stars

Three decades ago, the astronomical community discovered worlds outside our solar system. Beyond the borders of what we can previously perceive, the galaxy was found with a whopping 5,000 stranger orbs, known as exoplanets.

With the initial confirmation of these outlanders, the community met another 5,000 objects suspected as planets but were not yet confirmed, also known as the planetary candidates. The observations of these orbs were made possible through the help of NASA's Kepler Space Telescope.

These potential planets decreased as years of studies passed by. From thousands of the orbs, only three of the bodies were confirmed as exoplanets.

Exoplanets Before, Stellar Bodies Today

An Exoplanet Seen From Its Moon — The diversity of exoplanets is large — more than 800 planets outside the Solar System have been found to date, with thousands more waiting to be confirmed. Detection methods in this field are steadily and quickly increasing — meaning that many more exoplanets will undoubtedly be discovered in the months and years to come.As an international scientific organisation, the IAU dissociates itself entirely from the commercial practice of selling names of planets, stars or or even "real estate" on other planets or moons. These practices will not be recognised by the IAU and their alternative naming schemes cannot be adopted. IAU/L. Calçada/NASA

In new research presented this March, scholars from MIT found that these three planets, in addition to a possible one body, might have been misclassified since the initial detection. According to the authors, the remaining exoplanets are stellar bodies instead of planets.

The researchers investigated the exoplanets through the stars that host each of them. The data extracted from the bodies included their sizes, but the experts noticed that their scales are absurdly huge compared to the standard sizing of known planets.

Further estimates from advanced instruments revealed that each of the bodies, namely Kepler-840b, Kepler-854b, and Kepler-699b were between twice or four times larger compared to the size of the solar system's biggest resident, Jupiter.

The fourth planet, known as Kepler-747b, scales 1.8 times the size of Jupiter and was closer to the largest confirmed planet to date. However, Kepler-747b exists in a region that is relatively far from its host star, reports OEMag.

With the unusual distance, the planet does not receive any light source or energy sufficient to sustain the planet with such size. The team of the latest study concluded that among the four, Kepler-747b is indeed bizarre, but not impossible to be an actual planet.

ALSO READ : NASA Juno Spacecraft Shares Jaw-Dropping Photo of Jupiter's Moons Io and Europa [LOOK]

Tiny Correction in List of Exoplanet Population

MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research expert and author of the study Avi Shporer explained that their study contributes to the finalization of the planets already been completed before.

It is important to complete astronomical lists like the total planet population, as many people rely on the data, Shporer said. If a sample is infiltrated with inconsistent variables, the results of the entire list could be inaccurate, and with that, it is important that the list of the planet population is not polluted, the expert continued.

The authors emphasized that the main interest of the study is not to remove the objects from the list of planet candidates but to curate a much more accurate list of the exoplanets residing beyond the outskirts of our galaxy.

MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences expert and lead author Prajawal Niraula explained that what they carried out was a tiny correction, confirming that four objects they have screened are not planets.

The study was published in The Astronomical Journal, titled "Revisiting Kepler Transiting Systems: Unvetting Planets and Constraining Relationships among Harmonics in Phase Curves."