NASA’s tiny telescope discovers seven hot Jupiters millions of light-years away

In a recent study unveiled at the 2023 American Geophysical Union meeting, researchers studied and explored "hot Jupiters" through NASA's CubeSat mission, the Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment (CUTE).

What sets CUTE apart is that this is really tiny in size, measuring merely 36 centimetres in length, akin to a cereal box, in contrast to the more sizable exoplanet-hunting telescopes which often look like small school buses.

Launched in September 2021, CUTE has directed its ultraviolet capabilities towards studying hot Jupiters in detail. Hot Jupiters are those planets which are in close proximity to their parent stars. The study focused on understanding atmospheric escape phenomena.

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Previous analysis of WASP-189b

The team, comprising both undergraduate and graduate students, had previously published a comprehensive overview of CUTE in The Astronomical Journal in January 2023.

Subsequently, in August 2023, they reported specific results from CUTE's observations of WASP-189b, an extrasolar planet, in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

WASP-189b, with an orbital period of 2.7 days, exhibited a staggering atmospheric escape rate of 400 million kilograms per second due to its searing surface temperatures reaching approximately 8,315 degrees Celsius.

CUTE’s staggering capabilities

Despite its diminutive size, CUTE, orbiting at an altitude of 525 kilometres above the Earth's surface, showcased remarkable observational capabilities.

The mission's reach extended beyond our solar system, as evidenced by its study of WASP-189b located approximately 325 light-years away.

This underscores CUTE's potential to gain profound insights into the formation and evolution of planets beyond our solar system.

Seven hot Jupiters identified as of now

While WASP-189b stands out as a prime example of CUTE's capabilities, the research team has extended its observations to a total of seven hot Jupiters.

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Noteworthy among these are MASCARA-4b, located around 557 light-years from Earth, and KELT-9b, approximately 667 light-years away. The team's findings revealed varying degrees of atmospheric escape, from barely any gas escaping in the case of MASCARA-4b to a moderate level in KELT-9b.

“We want to understand how our solar system fits into the family of solar systems in the universe,” said Dr Kevin France, who is the CUTE Principal Investigator, an associate professor in the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences at CU Boulder, lead author of the overview paper, and co-author on the WASP-189b paper.

“That means understanding the big planets, the small planets, the ones that could have life and the ones that definitely don’t—and all of the important physical processes that are operating on these planets.”

(With inputs from agencies)