A giant planet, TOI-1355 b, will stop transiting its star by 2033 due to the star's rapid rotation and orbital tilt, according to a new study.
Giant planet's orbit changes rapidly
A giant planet named TOI-1355 b orbits its star in just two days, but its transits—when it passes in front of the star—will stop by around 2033, according to a recent study.Researchers from University of Tokyo lead study
The study was conducted by Noriharu Watanabe and Norio Narita of the University of Tokyo, along with about twenty other researchers, and was published in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan.Star is massive and extremely hot
The star, classified as A3V, is twice as massive as the Sun and has a surface temperature of 8,600 kelvins, making it much hotter and more luminous than our own star.Star's rapid rotation affects planet's orbit
The star rotates extremely rapidly, at more than 80 kilometers per second at the equator, which causes its orbit to pivot over time and flattens the star, similar to a rubber ball being spun.Planet's transits will stop due to orbital tilt
The planet's orbital plane is gradually tilting, which will eventually cause its transits to stop as it no longer passes directly in front of the star from our viewpoint.TESS and ground-based telescopes confirm findings
The American satellite TESS monitored the star during eight observation periods over several years, and ground-based measurements, including those from the MuSCAT3 camera on a two-meter telescope in Hawaii, were used to confirm the findings.Transits revealed planet's size and mass
The transits revealed the size of the planet, and the spectrograph GAOES-RV provided its mass, helping scientists understand its physical characteristics.Star is much larger than Jupiter
The star weighs 5.8 times that of Jupiter and has a radius 1.4 times that of Jupiter, making it significantly larger than the gas giant.
