Researchers from the University of Bern in Switzerland, led by Nicole Chanche, have discovered a new exoplanet with a very unusual “elongated” orbit, moving along which the planet deviates from the circle almost 30 times more strongly than the Earth. According to experts, this is the most elongated trajectory that has ever been recorded around a “cold” star.
A new exoplanet located outside the Solar System has been named TOI-2257 b. It makes a revolution around its red dwarf star in 35 days. Due to the elliptical orbit, the temperature on the planet during these few weeks varies from -80 to +100 degrees Celsius.
Scientists have found out that the planet TOI-2257 b orbits a cold star at a fairly close distance in the “habitable zone”. This means that there may be water, and therefore potential life.
However, further studies have shown that this planet is gaseous and similar to Neptune. There is a high atmospheric pressure, which does not really contribute to the appearance of life forms. TOI-2257 b has 2.2 times the radius of the Earth and a mass 5.45 times that of the Earth. Scientists note that the unusual trajectory of the planet’s movement may be due to the presence of an undiscovered giant planet nearby, which affects TOI-2257 b with its gravity.