Ground-Based Telescopes Discover Saturn-like Alien Planet 700 Light-Years Away

About 700 light-years away from Earth, a hot Saturn-like planet exists in another solar system. Now, astronomers have caught sight of the planet, and have learned a little bit more about it by using inexpensive ground-based telescopes.

The new exoplanet, called KELT-6b, was caught in action as it passed in front of its host star. This method of detecting exoplanets, called the "transit" method, essentially looks for the small shadow that the planet creates as it makes the pass. The exoplanet orbits the star once every 7.8 days and its transit actually lasts only five hours as seen from Earth. Yet scientists were able to capture almost the entirety of the phenomenon, which means that KELT-6b is now the longest-duration full planetary transit continuously observed from the ground.

The researchers weren't just satisfied with detecting the planet, though; they wanted to learn more about it. The scientists used the Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescopes (KELT) in Arizona and South Africa in order to gather crucial details about the exoplanet.

So what did they find? Residing in the constellation Coma Berenices, near Leo, the exoplanet is a hot gas-giant planet orbiting a star about the same age as our sun. In fact, KELT-6b actually resembles Saturn in terms of mass and size. However, it has no rings like our neighbor. This planet isn't only similar to Saturn, though, it's also like a very well-studied and well-known exoplanet called HD 209458b, unofficially referred to as Osiris. Located in the constellation Pegasus, this gas giant is about 150 light-years from Earth. Unlike Osiris, though, the new planet is low in metals since it was formed in an environment that didn't possess the materials.

"The role of metals in the stellar environments in which planets form is a major question in our understanding of these other worlds," said Keivan Stassun, Vanderbilt astronomy professor and member of the KELT team, in a news release. "This new planet is among the least endowed with such metals that we know of, and because it is so bright it should serve as a benchmark for comparative studies of how and under what conditions planets form."

The studies don't only show off a new exoplanet, though. They also highlight the importance of partnerships involving low-power telescopes in order to detect these alien planets.

The findings were announced on June 4 during the American Astronomical Society's national meeting in Indianapolis.