NASA Finds a Three-Planet System in Hyades Cluster

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This artist’s concept depicts a three-planet system. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

This artist’s concept depicts a three-planet system. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

It's exciting to find a younger brother planet or Earth 2.0, so to speak. But before we project our dreams of an ideal life along the lines of escaping this planet and colonizing another. We must resolve the issues on this planet and within ourselves. If not, then we may never make it to a brighter future or we may even bring our troubles with us wherever we go. 

NASA's Kepler spacecraft reborn K2 mission data just revealed a planetary system containing at 3 or more exo-planets that are orbiting around a K-type dwarf star. 

This star is labeled EPIC 247589423 (aka, LP 358-348) and is

  • 194 light-years away 
  • only 800 million years old
  • a member of Hyades
  • in Taurus constellation
“Based on EPIC 247589423’s Galactic position, the star lands 32-65 light-years from the cluster center and outside of the 16-light-year radius core, but still well within the broader population of Hyades members,” explained lead author Dr. Andrew Mann, an astronomer at the University of Texas at Austin and Columbia University, and colleagues. 

In this galaxy, there are 3 planets. Two are very large and one is about the same size as our Earth, called EPIC 247589423b. It's also the first planet found in a young star cluster.

“The smallest planet has a radius comparable to Earth (0.99 Earth radii), making it one of the few Earth-sized planets with a known, young age,” the astronomers said. “The two larger planets — EPIC 247589423c and d — are likely a mini-Neptune and a super-Earth, with radii of 2.91 and 1.45 Earth radii, respectively.”
EPIC 247589423 (center). Image credit: Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg / SIMBAD / DSS.

EPIC 247589423 (center). Image credit: Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg / SIMBAD / DSS.

Each planet orbits their star much quicker than we orbit our sun:

  • 7.9 days
  • 17.3 days
  • 25.6 days

Temperatures range from 212 to 536 degrees Fahrenheit.

“The EPIC 247589423 system contains one of the youngest Earth-sized planets known, offering the possibility of studying the history and evolution of Earth-sized planets,” the scientists said.

Sources:

http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/three-planet-system-hyades-cluster-05323.html

Andrew W. Mann et al. 2017. Zodiacal Exoplanets in Time (ZEIT) VI: a three-planet system in the Hyades cluster including an Earth-sized planet. arXiv: 1709.10328