| Title |
Temperate Earth-sized planets transiting a nearby ultracool dwarf star
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Nature, May 2016
|
| DOI | 10.1038/nature17448 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Michaël Gillon, Emmanuël Jehin, Susan M. Lederer, Laetitia Delrez, Julien de Wit, Artem Burdanov, Valérie Van Grootel, Adam J. Burgasser, Amaury H. M. J. Triaud, Cyrielle Opitom, Brice-Olivier Demory, Devendra K. Sahu, Daniella Bardalez Gagliuffi, Pierre Magain, Didier Queloz |
| Abstract |
Star-like objects with effective temperatures of less than 2,700 kelvin are referred to as 'ultracool dwarfs'. This heterogeneous group includes stars of extremely low mass as well as brown dwarfs (substellar objects not massive enough to sustain hydrogen fusion), and represents about 15 per cent of the population of astronomical objects near the Sun. Core-accretion theory predicts that, given the small masses of these ultracool dwarfs, and the small sizes of their protoplanetary disks, there should be a large but hitherto undetected population of terrestrial planets orbiting them-ranging from metal-rich Mercury-sized planets to more hospitable volatile-rich Earth-sized planets. Here we report observations of three short-period Earth-sized planets transiting an ultracool dwarf star only 12 parsecs away. The inner two planets receive four times and two times the irradiation of Earth, respectively, placing them close to the inner edge of the habitable zone of the star. Our data suggest that 11 orbits remain possible for the third planet, the most likely resulting in irradiation significantly less than that received by Earth. The infrared brightness of the host star, combined with its Jupiter-like size, offers the possibility of thoroughly characterizing the components of this nearby planetary system. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 195 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 20 | 10% |
| Japan | 16 | 8% |
| Canada | 8 | 4% |
| Spain | 6 | 3% |
| United Kingdom | 5 | 3% |
| Mexico | 4 | 2% |
| Turkey | 4 | 2% |
| Russia | 3 | 2% |
| Sweden | 3 | 2% |
| Other | 37 | 19% |
| Unknown | 89 | 46% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 159 | 82% |
| Scientists | 28 | 14% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 4 | 2% |
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 4 | 2% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 269 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | 2 | <1% |
| Italy | 2 | <1% |
| United States | 2 | <1% |
| Canada | 1 | <1% |
| United Kingdom | 1 | <1% |
| Japan | 1 | <1% |
| Mexico | 1 | <1% |
| Unknown | 259 | 96% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 59 | 22% |
| Student > Bachelor | 51 | 19% |
| Researcher | 44 | 16% |
| Student > Master | 27 | 10% |
| Other | 13 | 5% |
| Other | 39 | 14% |
| Unknown | 36 | 13% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Physics and Astronomy | 144 | 54% |
| Earth and Planetary Sciences | 24 | 9% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 11 | 4% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 7 | 3% |
| Chemistry | 7 | 3% |
| Other | 36 | 13% |
| Unknown | 40 | 15% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 2418. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 19 March 2024.
All research outputs
#3,307
of 25,765,370 outputs
Outputs from Nature
#346
of 98,691 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#27
of 313,077 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Nature
#4
of 975 outputs
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