K2-33b


K2-33b is a very young super-Neptune exoplanet, orbiting the pre-main-sequence star K2-33. It was discovered by NASA's Kepler spacecraft on its "Second Light" mission. It is located about 456 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Scorpius. The exoplanet was found by using the transit method, in which the dimming effect that a planet causes as it crosses in front of its star is measured. It is mostly notable for its extremely young age − a mere 9.3 million years old, only one other exoplanet is even younger with an age of 2 Myr.

Characteristics

Mass, radius, and temperature

K2-33b is a super-Neptune, an exoplanet that has a mass and radius larger than that of Neptune. It has an equilibrium temperature of. It has a radius of 5.04. While the exoplanet's mass hasn't been constrained yet, upper estimates place a mass of 3.6.

Host star

The planet orbits an pre-main-sequence star named K2-33. The star has a mass of 0.54 and a radius of 1.05. It has a surface temperature of 3540 K and is 9.3 million years old. In comparison, the Sun is 4.6 billion years old and has a surface temperature of 5778 K. It has about the same amount of metals as the Sun, with a metallicity of 0. Its luminosity is 15% that of the Sun.
The star's apparent magnitude, or how bright it appears from Earth's perspective, is 14.3. Therefore, it is too dim to be seen with the naked eye.

Orbit

K2-33b orbits its host star with an orbital period of 5.424 days at a distance of 0.049 AU. The planet likely receives about 125 times as much sunlight that Earth does from the Sun.

Age and formation

The planet is best known for its remarkably young age, which is estimated to be about 9.3 million years. Given this age, the planetary system most likely formed back near the end of the Miocene epoch of the Earth's history. Observations made on the planet confirmed that it was in fact a fully formed exoplanet, not just a protoplanet that was still in the stages of developing. The mass and radius of the exoplanet further help constrain this statement.
K2-33b is the youngest confirmed transiting exoplanet. There are relatively few other exoplanets discovered to date with an age this young, all of which are non-transiting. The hot Jupiter exoplanet V830 Tau b, published in the same issue of the journal Nature as the discovery of K2-33b, is the youngest known exoplanet with an age of around 2 million years.
The discoveries of K2-33b and V830 Tau b are most notable for explaining how close-in planets form, an open question in the field of exoplanets since the discovery of the first exoplanet, 51 Pegasi b, in 1995. Given the young ages of these exoplanets, several theories of planetary migration can be ruled out because they take too long to form close-in planets. The most plausible formation scenario for K2-33b is that it formed further away from its star, then migrated inwards through the protoplanetary disk, although it remains a possibility that the planet formed in place. Trevor David of Caltech in Pasadena stated on the discovery of the exoplanet "The question we are answering is: Did those planets take a long time to get into those hot orbits, or could they have been there from a very early stage? We are saying, at least in this one case, that they can indeed be there at a very early stage."
Understanding the young ages of such exoplanets may eventually help to lead scientists on how planetary formation works and provide some clues on the origin of the Solar System and other such planetary systems discovered.

Discovery

In 2014, NASA's Kepler spacecraft began its "Second Light" mission, after two of its reactor wheels had failed the previous year, ending the primary mission. From 23 August to 13 November 2014, the spacecraft collected data from the core of Upper Scorpius, which included K2-33. The exoplanet was simultaneously discovered by two independent research groups, one led by astronomers from the California Institute of Technology and the other led by astronomers from the University of Texas at Austin.
The star was studied on days in late January, February, and March 2016. The observations were made with the Immersion Grating Infrared Spectrometer on the 2.7-m Harlan J. Smith Telescope at the McDonald Observatory. After observing the respective transits, which for K2-33b occurred roughly every 5 days, it was eventually concluded that a planetary body was responsible for the periodic 5-day transits. The discovery was announced on 20 June 2016 in an announcement made by NASA.