Astronomers have found a planet with an atypically elongated orbit

The ratio of the orbit of the planet HD 20782 to the orbits of the planets of our system

Astronomers from San Francisco State University discovered a planet with an extremely atypical orbit. Instead of the usual orbit, close to circular, the planet HD 20782 moves along a strongly elongated ellipse.

If we compare this orbit with the parameters of our solar system, then in the part of its greatest distance the planet is at a distance from its star, 2.5 times greater than the distance from the Earth to the Sun. When the planet is closest to the star, the distance between them is much less than the distance from Mercury to the Sun.

The planet, located 177 light years from Earth, was discovered with the help of a space telescope, and its exact trajectory gave a ray of light from its star, reflected by the atmosphere of the planet. The planet has ice on its surface and crystalline reflective particles in the atmosphere, but at the same time it moves so quickly in orbit that the ice does not have time to melt even at the closest approach to the star. According to Stephen Kane, one of the research astronomers, a planet the size of Jupiter moves in orbit like a comet.

According to Kane, it is very difficult to determine exactly what exactly caused the appearance of such a strange orbit. A collision or strong convergence with another massive planet is possible. Also, since the planet is in a double star system, it could have been influenced by the gravitational force of one of the stars.

Astronomers were delighted with such a discovery as being of great interest to science - in addition to the unusual orbit, it will be possible to study the details of the functioning of the planet’s atmosphere, which is being heated and cooled rapidly.