A giant gas planet is believed to be the cause of the regular eclipse experienced by PDS 110 , a young champion locate more than 1,000 light - years away in the configuration of Orion .
The exoplanet is estimate to have about 50 times the spate of Jupiter and is likely surrounded by a disk of debris that extends for at least 45 million kilometers ( 28 million miles ) . astronomer have notice two eclipse , where about 30 percent of the visible radiation of the wiz was blocked . Each eclipse lasted about 25 days , so researchers believe a ringed planet is the best explanation . The study is due to be published in theMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society .
PDS 110 is an intermediate slew star , slightly large than our Sun but much young at only 10 million year older . The team used datum from the Wide Angle Search for Planets ( WASP ) and the Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope ( KELT ) to understand precisely what ’s going on .
“ We discover a suggestion that this was an interesting object in data from the WASP survey , ” lead source Hugh Osborn , from the University of Warwick , said in astatement . “ But it was n’t until we find a 2d , almost identical eclipse in the KELT survey information that we knew we had something special . ”
From the data , they reckon that the eclipse take place every 2.5 years , with one take situation in November 2008 and a 2nd one in January 2011 . Both occultation looked unusually similar , hence the hint they were triggered by the same physical object , which is believed to be located twice as far from the star as our major planet is from the Sun .
“ What ’s exciting is that during both eclipses we see the light from the star change chop-chop , and that suggest that there are ring in the eclipsing object , but these ring are many times large than the rings around Saturn , ” co - author and Leiden astronomer Matthew Kenworthy tally .
The next occultation is ask in September this year . The star is undimmed enough to be visible even with smaller instruments , so amateur stargazer should try having a look in that direction later in the summer to see if researchers are right about their speculation .
“ September ’s eclipse will let us study the intricate structure around PDS 110 in detail for the first time , and hopefully prove that what we are seeing is a jumbo exoplanet and its moons in the process of establishment , " tally Hugh Oborn .
If this is confirm , it could also help explicate Tabby ’s champion . Recently , a ringed planet and asteroidshave been suggest to explain its unusual dips in lightness .
