A new study reports that astronomers have found a huge solar system that spreads 600 billion miles (1 trillion kilometers) from its host star. This is the largest solar system found up to date.
Astronomers have found a gas-giant exoplanet named 2MASS J2126 and its parent star. They are separated by about 7,000 astronomical units (AU), the planet completing one orbit every 900,000 years, according to researchers. For comparison, Pluto averages about 40 AU from the sun and Neptune lies about 30 AU from our solar system's star.
The research team found that the red dwarf star called TYC 9486-927-1 and the planet 2MASS J2126 discovered eight years ago are moving together through space about 104 light-years from Earth. This discovery made scientists in concluding that the two astral bodies are part of the same system. The study was published in the journal of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Based on the lithium signature in the star's spectrum, the researchers estimated that the age for 2MASS J2126 and TYC 9486-927-1 is between 10 million and 45 million years. That means that so far the planet 2MASS J2126 has completed only a maximum of 50 orbits around its star.
The mass of the 2MASS J2126 planet is estimated at around 12 to 15 times the mass of planet Jupiter, according to space.com. The temperature of the planet is estimated at around 2,730 degrees Fahrenheit (1,500 degrees Celsius).
In order to come to their new discovery Deacon and his colleagues analyzed databases of brown dwarfs, young stars and rogue planets to estimate if they could link any of them together.
Researchers said that the previous record for the most widely separated star and planet was 2,500 AU, according to NBC News. Niall Deacon, a study lead author of the University of Hertfordshire in England, declared that it is certainly a very long distance between the planet and its star. According to scientists, there are very low odds that life could exist on 2MASS J2126.
