A newly discovered distant mini-Neptune planet may possess its own atmosphere, ocean, or a combination of the two, even if they don't last for long. The extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, designated HD-2047496 b located around 77 light-years from Earth revealed its characteristics to astronomers as it crossed the face of its parent star.
The discovery could help scientists better understand how planetary systems evolve and why there is an absence of Neptune-sized worlds close to their parent stars in the Milky Way.
The team of planetary scientists from around the globe was able to characterize the features of the exoplanet while analyzing data from its star collected by the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS). They combined this with data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) which revealed the brightness and wavelengths of light from the star, HD-207496 revealing the characteristics of the exoplanet as it crossed, or transited, its face.
Source: www.space.com
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