L 98–59 Star System Holds Wealth of Exoplanets - The Cosmic Companion 5 August 2021

Looking in on the L 98-59 planetary system reveals unknown wonders.

The L 98–59 star system is home to an exoplanet half as massive as Venus, a possible water world, and — maybe — an exoplanet in the habitable zone of that stellar family.

The L 98–59 family — at least three of the worlds — are seen here in artist’s conceptions of what these worlds may look like, based on the latest findings from the European Southern Observatory. Image credit: Stills recorded from ESO videos / Collage by The Cosmic Companion

Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) in Chile, astronomers have examined a trio of exciting worlds in the L 98–59 star system, just 35 light years from Earth.

These three worlds were first spotted in 2019, using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). This observatory spots exoplanets as they pass “in front of” their stars as seen from Earth — a technique known as the transit method.

These follow-up studies used the Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanets and Stable Spectroscopic Observations (ESPRESSO) instrument on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in northern Chile. Studying the worlds of L 98–59 using ESPRESSO allowed researchers to examine these exoplanets in unprecedented detail.

Read more: https://thecosmiccompanion.net/l-98-59-star-system-holds-wealth-of-exoplanets

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