• Exoplanets

• Types of Exoplanets
• Methods to detect Exoplanets
• Space Telescopes
• Nomenclature of Exoplanets
• Habitability
• Indian Studies on Exoplanets
• Spaceflight to Exoplanets

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 EXOPLANETS AND LIFE COMPONENT
A fundamental question that always intrigued humanity from time immemorial is “Are we alone in
the universe”. Search for life other than Earth forms one of the basic riddles scientists are trying to
answer.

We all know that there are eight planets orbiting the sun in the solar system, including our Earth.
But the questions like, are there any planets outside our solar system? What do they look like, and
What are they called? Are there any planets out there beyond our solar system that are similar to
Earth? Can we live there in the future? These questions make us curious, explore more about our
universe, and mesmerize it.

Exoplanets:
The planets that are outside our solar system are called exoplanets. Some planets orbit their host
star, and few are called rogue planets* without a host planetary system floating in the galaxy.

Billions of planets are present in the

Milky way galaxy. The first planet
beyond our solar system was
discovered in 1992. From then till
today, scientists have discovered and
confirmed thousands of exoplanets
using ground-based and space
telescopes. The count is increasing
with each passing day. These numbers
are expected to grow with new
telescopes with ever-increasing
power.
Fig. 1: A picture showing exoplanets discovered before October 2015
arranged according to their temperature and density. (Credit: Martin Vargic)

Exoplanets are made up of elements similar to the elements in our solar system planets. Scientists
have discovered exoplanets with lava worlds covered in molten seas and puffy planets with
Styrofoam density*. The measurement of an exoplanet's size and mass enables scientists to
determine characteristics of a planet like its composition. It is observed that the exo-planets size,
mass and density vary over a long-range, from very rocky planets like our earth to gas giant planets
like Jupiter. Based on their sizes, the exo-planets are typically referred to as Earth-like, Jupiter-like,
Neptune-like etc.

Did you know?

The nearest confirmed exoplanet Proxima Centauri b is approximately 4.2 light-years
away orbiting the nearest star Proxima Centauri.
Proxima Centauri b is found to be 20 times closer to its host star than that of Earth. The
extreme UV and X-rays from the host star at that distance may make it inhabitable.

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 The scientific community have discovered around 5000 exoplanets in more than 3000 planetary
systems having one or more planets orbiting their host star. In addition, around 8000 candidate
planets are waiting for confirmation. Note that, we have not identified any planetary system with
more than eight planets currently.

Types of Exoplanets:
Exoplanets come in various sizes. Scientists have categorized exoplanets into four different types
based on their surface features.

1. Gas Giant Exoplanets - Large planets composed mainly of helium and hydrogen gas are
known as gas giants. They can be as much or larger than Jupiter. They do not have a hard
surface and instead have swirling gases above a solid core. Hot Jupiters are Gas giants which
are closer to their host stars. As they orbit very close to the host star, their temperatures
increase to thousands of degrees Celsius.
Confirmed Gas Giant Exoplanets: 1450+
Examples: KELT-9b, Kepler-7b

In June 2020, the youngest hot Jupiter

named HIP 67522 b was identified
orbiting a star which is only 17 million
years old. The planet takes about seven
days to orbit its star. It is ten times the
diameter of Earth and is located
approximately 490 light-years from
Earth. The size of the planet strongly
indicates that it is a gas-dominated
planet. Fig. 2: An artist’s impression of the ten hot Jupiter
exoplanets studied by David Sing and his colleagues.
(Credit: ESA/Hubble)

2. Neptune Like Exoplanets - Exoplanets that are similar to the size of Neptune and Uranus
are called Neptunian Exoplanets. Atmospheres of these planets have hydrogen and helium,
and may have a core of heavier metals. The composition and elements present in its
atmosphere are not much explored. These planets often contain thick clouds that make it
difficult to study their atmosphere.
Confirmed Neptune Like Exoplanets: 1719+
Example: HAT-P-26b, GJ436b

Fig. 3: Examples of Neptune-like giant planets. (Credits: Eyes on Exoplanets/NASA)

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3. Super-Earths - The planets that are more massive than Earth but lighter than ice giants
planets, i.e., Larger than Earth and smaller than Neptune, are called Super-Earths. Super-
Earths are 2-10 times more massive than Earth. They can be made of gas, rock or a
combination of both rock and gas. Some super-earths might be water worlds or snow worlds,
and planets like Neptune may be composed of dense gas.
Confirmed Super-Earth planets: 1500+
Examples: Kepler – 22b, Kepler-69c

Exoplanets that come

at the upper limits of
the Super-Earth size
limit are referred to
as Sub-Neptunes or
mini-Neptunes.
Fig. 4: Kepler's newest planetary find joins a pantheon of planets with
similarities to Earth. (Credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech)

4. Terrestrial Exoplanets - Planets in the mass range of half to twice the mass of Earth, with
a solid surface composed of rocks, water, carbon, silicate, and other elements, are called
Terrestrial planets. Some terrestrial planets may have more water than water on Earth. It
takes much time to determine the atmosphere, composition, and signs of habitability of these
planets. Many rocky planets similar to Earth in size and that are in the habitable range have
been discovered.
Confirmed Terrestrial Exoplanets: 186
Example: Trappist 1 system planets

Fig. 5: The artist's concept showing the TRAPPIST-1 planets as of February 2018.
(Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

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Methods to detect the Exoplanets

Direct Method:
● Direct Imaging: Planets are detected directly by observing through the telescope, similar to how
Galileo discovered Jupiter and its moons. Detection of planets using this method is sporadic;
hence, only fewer exoplanets were discovered.
Number of planets discovered: 55

Fig. 6: (Left) Artistic image of a Telescope and star system. Credit: Financial Times
(Right) Results of Direct detection method. (Credits: Universe Today)

Indirect Method:
● Transit Photometry: When a planet
transits* in front of the star, the star's
brightness slightly reduces depending on
the size of a planet. If a significantly large
planet transits, there will be slightly more
dimness than when a small-sized planet
transits. Hence, we can detect planet size
depending on the dimness of a star.
Number of planets: 3752
Fig. 7: Transit Method of Detection. (Credits: Viewspace)

● Radial Velocity: When a massive planet

orbits a star, it makes a star wobble in
space because of its high gravity, i.e., the
star is affected by the gravitational tug* of
their orbiting planet, causing a change in
the spectrum of a star. Suppose the star is
moving towards the observer, the colour of
the star shifts to blue and if a star is moving
away from the observer, the colour shifts
towards red. This shift in the spectrum is
also referred to as Doppler spectroscopy*.
Number of planets discovered: 899 Fig. 8: Radial Velocity Method. (Credits: Universe Today)

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Space Telescope: A tool to observe the planets.
So far, we understood the methods of detection of exoplanets, now it is important to know about
the Telescopes that has helped us detect all these exoplanets. Also, few of the space telescopes that
are yet to be launched.

Kelper Space Telescope: The main objective

was to survey our region in the Milky Way
galaxy and discover Earth-sized or smaller
planets in or near the habitable zone. Kepler
discovered 2662 exoplanets by observing
530,506 stars.

Spitzer Space Telescope has made a notable

discovery of the TRAPPIST -1 system, which
has seven exoplanets similar to earth size.
Though it was not designed to find the
exoplanets, its infrared instruments made it an
excellent planet explorer.

Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite

(TESS) is a successor to the Kelper space
telescope to find exoplanets that orbit around
dwarf stars, the most common type of stars in
our galaxy.

James Webb Space Telescope, launched on

December 25, 2021, is expected to provide us
with information on the atmospheres of
Exoplanets and also to collect more details on
the building blocks of life in the universe.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is

a future wide-field infrared Space Telescope by
NASA. It is currently under development and
is scheduled to launch in 2027 to work on the
next decade of astronomy.

Fig. 9: List of Space Telescope exploring Exoplanets (Credits: NASA)

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Did you know?
An exoplanet that is likely discovered by a telescope but has not yet been proven to actually exist
is called Exoplanet Candidate. All the discovered planets need not be confirmed; Some
candidates may turn out to be false.
Once the planet is verified through additional observations, then it is said to be confirmed
Exoplanet. There are close to 8000 exoplanets waiting for confirmation.

Nomenclature: How do we name an Exoplanet?

Unlike the planets in our solar systems, the scientific nomenclature for the designations of exoplanets
usually consists of two elements:
1. The first part of the exoplanet is usually a proper noun or abbreviation, sometimes with
associated numbers: Usually, the exoplanet is named after a telescope or survey that
discovered it or the star name. The number is how the star is catalogued by its position.
2. The second part is followed by a lowercase letter: The first planet found in a star system is
always named b, with ensuing planets named c, d, e, f and so on.

Example
a. 55 Cancri d - It is an exoplanet around the star 55 Cancri in the constellation of cancer. Letter
d indicates it is the third planet in that star system.
b. Trappist -1 b is an exoplanet orbiting around the Trappist - 1 star. Letter b indicates it is the
first planet in the star system.

If the earth was an exoplanet, can you guess the name it would be called as?

Which planets should we look for life, and why?

Researchers have found thousands of exoplanets, but to find a planet capable of existing life on it,
i.e., planets that come under the habitable zone, might be capable of existing life. Most of the Earth-
sized worlds have been detected orbiting red dwarf stars.

Habitability
Habitable Zone is the region around a
star where the planet's conditions for
life to exist are just right, i.e., neither
too hot nor too cold where liquid
water could exist. This zone is not
unique but depends mainly on the
mass and temperature of the host star.
The habitable zones are also known
as goldilocks zones.

Fig. 10: Diagram of different habitable zone regions.

(Credits: Chester Harman)

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Let us understand more about the Habitable zone by comparing Trappist 1 System along with our
Solar system.

a. Comparison of Planets in our Solar System:

There are eight planets in our solar system and are grouped into two categories: the inner
terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars) and the outer gas giants (Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune).
The distance between the sun and earth is 150 million km. The surface temperature of the
sun is about 6000 Kelvin. Mercury and Venus are close to the sun; hence liquid water cannot
exist. The other four planets are too far and too cold from the sun to be habitable. Earth is
the only planet that comes under the habitable zone in our solar system.

b. Comparison of Earth and other exoplanets

Seven terrestrial planets are orbiting a red dwarf star in Trappist 1 system. All of them are
roughly the same size as Earth. TRAPPIST-1 e, f, and g are three planets that lie in the
"habitable zone" of their star, where researchers have calculated that those temperatures are
ideal for liquid water to pool on the surface of an Earth-like planet.

TRAPPIST-1 b, c, and d are orbiting very close to their star; TRAPPIST -1 h is too far away
to be habitable. Researchers believe that more optimistic scenarios could allow any or all
the planets to hold liquid water. Since most of them are tidally locked*, this would result in
a wide range of temperatures from day to night, allowing for scenarios that are not
considered in the usual definition of a habitable zone.

Fig. 11: Comparison of Trappist-1 System and our Inner Solar System. (Credits: NASA/JPL Caltech)

Mars lies within the green zone (Habitable zone). Robotic space missions on Mars have
found evidence of lakes and minerals that could have formed in water.

ISRO scientists at Physics Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad, have detected Exoplanets
using the telescope at Mt.Abu in Rajasthan. IIST Scientists are developing a space-based telescope
to study the atmosphere of Exoplanets.

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Can we travel to distant exoplanets?
The fastest human-made object ever is the Parker Solar Probe. At the closest approach to Sun, it
will have a speed close to 7,00,000 km/hr or 0.064% the speed of light.

In 2016, researchers discovered an exoplanet

named Proxima Centauri b, the closest known
exoplanet is at a distance of 4 light-years away. If
we take Parker to travel to this planet, it will take
with the speed of the parker solar probe, one can
reach Proxima Centauri b in approximately
5.4x107 hr = ~2.25 lakh days which is little more
than 6000 years.
Fig. 12: Artistic view of Proxima Centauri b.
(Credits: ESO/M. Kornmesser)
Assuming 100 years as the life of a human, it is impossible to cover this distance in one’s lifetime.
Unless there is a breakthrough in the speed of travel by a factor of 100 or more, it is impossible for
the humans to visit even the nearest exoplanet.

We can look at them, measure their temperatures, study the atmospheres; perhaps one day soon, we
could detect signs of life that could be hidden in pixels of light captured from those dim and distant
worlds. With all the current resources, and innovative ideas of the future generation, it would be
possible one day.

Glossary:

• Exoplanet -Planet outside the solar system.

• Rogue planets - Interstellar objects of a planetary mass smaller than a star.
• Styrofoam density - Styrofoam is an expanding Polyester with Density. 0.96–1.05 g/cm3.
Melting point. ~ 240 °C
• Gravitational tug - The force of attraction that bodies exert on one another as a result of
their mass.
• Transit - The act of passing through or across.
• Spectroscopy - The study of interaction between matter and electromagnetic radiation as a
function of the wavelength or frequency of the radiation.
• Light Years - Distance that light travels in one earth year. It is a large unit of length used to
express astronomical distances and is equivalent to about 9.46 trillion kilometres.
• Tidal locking – It is a phenomenon of co- orbiting astronomical bodies or two objects having
the same rotation period.

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