Universe  ID: 13648

TESS, Spitzer Missions Discover a Unique Young World

Released on June 24, 2020
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NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and retired Spitzer Space Telescope have found a young Neptune-size world orbiting AU Microscopii, a cool, nearby M-type red dwarf star surrounded by a vast disk of debris. The discovery makes the system a touchstone for understanding how stars and planets form and evolve.

Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.

Music: "Web Of Intrigue" from Universal Production Music.

Complete transcript available.

For more than a decade, astronomers have searched for planets orbiting AU Microscopii, a nearby star still surrounded by a disk of debris left over from its formation. Now scientists using data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and retired Spitzer Space Telescope report the discovery of a planet about as large as Neptune that circles the young star in just over a week.

The system, known as AU Mic for short, provides a one-of-kind laboratory for studying how planets and their atmospheres form, evolve and interact with their stars.

AU Mic is a M-type red dwarf star at least 150 times younger than our Sun. It’s so young that a vast disk of dust and icy grains still surrounds it.

The planet, AU Mic b, orbits very close to its star within a central zone where the disk material is cleared away. It's around 8% larger than Neptune, with no more than about 3.4 times its mass.
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Dos telescopios espaciales de la NASA, el Satélite de Sondeo de Exoplanetas en Tránsito (TESS, por sus siglas en inglés) y el recientemente retirado Telescopio Espacial Spitzer, han encontrado un mundo joven del tamaño de Neptuno que orbita AU Microscopii, una estrella enana fría cercana de tipo espectral M que está rodeada por un vasto disco de escombros. El descubrimiento hace del sistema un referente para nuestra comprensión de cómo se forman y evolucionan las estrellas y los planetas.

Crédito: Centro de Vuelo Espacial Goddard de la NASA.

Una transcripción completa está disponible.

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Illustration depicting an approach to AU Mic, flying through its debris disk, and arriving at AU Mic b.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (USRA)

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Illustration depicting one interpretation of AU Mic b.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (USRA)

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Illustration depicting one interpretation of planet AU Mic b.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (USRA)

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Illustration depicting AU Mic, an M-type red dwarf star at least 150 times younger than our Sun. The dark areas represent huge sunspot-like regions that helped complicate the search for planets.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (USRA)

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Illustration depicting the AU Mic system.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (USRA)

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This movie illustrates AU Mic's complex light curve and how scientists filtered out the effects of flares and star spots to discover the transit of AU Mic b.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (USRA)

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High-resolution still illustrating one interpretation of planet AU Mic b.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (USRA)

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Animated GIF illustrating one interpretation of planet AU Mic b.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (USRA)

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Animated GIF illustrating one interpretation of planet AU Mic b and its host star. A version without graphics is included.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (USRA)

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Animated GIF illustrating the AU Mic system.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (USRA)

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Animated GIF illustrating how scientists filtered out the effects of the host star's flares and star spots to discover AU Mic b's transit.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (USRA)

For More Information

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2020/nasa-s-tess-spitzer-missions-discover-a-world-orbiting-a-unique-young-star/

Credits

Chris Smith (USRA): Lead Producer
Chris Smith (USRA): Lead Animator
Francis Reddy (University of Maryland College Park): Science Writer
Tom Barclay (UMBC): Scientist
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13648

Mission:
TESS

This item is part of this series:
Narrated Movies

Keywords:
SVS >> Astrophysics
SVS >> Planets
SVS >> Space
SVS >> Spitzer
SVS >> Star
NASA Science >> Universe
SVS >> Exoplanet
SVS >> TESS