In one of the most remarkable scientific achievements, a sub-Saturn Exoplanet has been discovered by Indian scientists. The discovery has been done by a scientific team eld by Professor Abhijit Chakraborty of Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has a detailed report on how the scientists made the breakthrough. The discovery of the new planet was made by calculating the mass of the planet using the indigenously designed “PRL Advance Radial-velocity Abu-sky Search” (PARAS) spectrograph that is integrated with 1.2m Telescope at PRL’s Gurushikhar Observatory in Mount Abu, India. What is interesting is that this is the first of its kind spectrograph in India as it can measure the mass of a planet going around a star.

India has joined the elite club of a handful of countries with this discovery of new planets around stars. The name of the planet is EPIC 211945201b or K2-236b. The host star’s name is EPIC 211945201 or K2-236.

Here are the top facts about the new found discovery by Indian scientists:

– The sub-Saturn or super-Neptune size planet has the mass of about 27 Earth.

– Physically, EPIC 211945201b or K2-236b’s radius is six times that of Earth.

Image Source: ISRO

– EPIC 211945201b or K2-236b revolves around a Sun-like star which is around 600 light years away from our planet Earth.

– The planet completes one revolution around its host star in about 19.5 days.

– As per the initial recordings, the surface temperature of the planet is around 600°C. This is due to the close proximity of the planet to its host star. The planet is seven times nearer to its star as compared to the Earth-Sun distance. Naturally, the close proximity to its host star makes the planet inhabitable.

– The discovery of such a planet is important to understand the mechanism of how such super-Neptune or sub-Saturn kind of planets are formed which are close to its host star.

– Scientists have been able to deduce what elements may be found on the newly discovered planet. Based on the mass and radius, model-dependent calculations heavy elements, such as ice, silicates, and iron content is what makes at least 60-70% of the total mass.