Western planetary scientists Chris Fox and Prof. Paul Wiegert have discovered a new exoplanet - Kepler 159d - orbiting a star in a 'habitable zone' about 500 light-years from Earth.

Ever since Chris Fox was a young boy, he wanted to visit alien planets. Now he has gone an found one – although, at about 500 light years from Earth, it would be a tough commute.

The Western University graduate student has teamed with Paul Wiegert, Graduate Program Director at Western’s renowned Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration (CPSX), in discovering the exoplanet – provisionally known as Kepler 159d.

Fox and Wiegert did not actually view Kepler 159d; rather, they deduced its presence by investigating its gravitational effects on the orbits of Kepler 159b and Kepler 159c.

These two previously discovered exoplanets were detected by NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope, an observatory in space charged with finding planets outside our solar system, particularly alien planets that are around the same size as Earth in the habitable regions of their parent star.

“I’ve been a space buff since I was a little kid, I watched all of the old sci-fi shows and I always wanted to go to another planet,” says Fox. “We can’t go to the planets quite yet, so this is as good as it gets for now.”

Kepler 159d has a mass comparable to that of Saturn, the second-largest planet in our solar system. And like Saturn, it is likely mostly composed of gases with no distinct solid surface.

Whether Kepler 159d has rings or moons like Saturn is still unknown but what is known is that it orbits within its star’s ‘Habitable Zone,’ which means temperatures are in the range suitable for Earth-life – although but there is no evidence on whether there is actually any life in the system.

The central star of Kepler 159d’s planetary system is a red dwarf star (spectral class M0V) with a mass estimated at 52 per cent of that of our Sun. Its surface temperature is about 3600 Celsius (3893 Kelvin) while the Sun’s is 5500C (5770 K).

The finding was published in the scientific journal, </s> Teamed with Paul Wiegert, Graduate Program Director at Western's renowned Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration (CPSX), Fox discovered the exoplanet—provisionally known as Kepler 159d—by investigating gravitational effects on Kepler 159b and Kepler 159c. These two previously discovered exoplanets were detected by NASA's Kepler Space Telescope, an observatory in space charged with finding planets outside our solar system, particularly alien planets that are around the same size as Earth in the habitable regions of their parent star.

Kepler 159d was not actually seen by Fox and Wiegert rather it was variations in the orbits of Kepler 159b and Kepler that allowed the planetary scientists to deduce its presence.

"I've been a space buff since I was a little kid, I watched all of the old sci-fi shows and I always wanted to go to another planet," says Fox. "We can't go to the planets quite yet, so this is as good as it gets for now."

Kepler 159d has a mass comparable to that of Saturn, the second-largest planet in our solar system. And like Saturn, it is likely mostly composed of gases with no distinct solid surface.

Whether Kepler 159d has rings or moons like Saturn is still unknown but what is known is that it orbits within its star's 'Habitable Zone,' which means temperatures are in the range suitable for Earth-life but there is no evidence on whether there is actually any life in the system.

The central star of Kepler 159d's planetary system is a red dwarf star (spectral class M0V) with a mass estimated at 52 per cent of that of our Sun. Its surface temperature is about 3600 Celsius (3893 Kelvin) while the Sun's is 5500C (5770 K).

The finding was published in the scientific journal, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Explore further: Finding a 'lost' planet, about the size of Neptune

More information: Chris Fox et al, A New Planet in the Kepler-159 System From Transit Timing Variations, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (2018). DOI: 10.1093/mnras/sty2738 </s> Credit: University of Western Ontario

Ever since Chris Fox was a young boy, he wanted to visit alien planets. With no immediate plans for such a voyage, the Western University graduate student has done the next best thing. He's gone and found one.

Teamed with Paul Wiegert, Graduate Program Director at Western's renowned Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration (CPSX), Fox discovered the exoplanet—provisionally known as Kepler 159d—by investigating gravitational effects on Kepler 159b and Kepler 159c. These two previously discovered exoplanets were detected by NASA's Kepler Space Telescope, an observatory in space charged with finding planets outside our solar system, particularly alien planets that are around the same size as Earth in the habitable regions of their parent star.

Kepler 159d was not actually seen by Fox and Wiegert rather it was variations in the orbits of Kepler 159b and Kepler that allowed the planetary scientists to deduce its presence.

"I've been a space buff since I was a little kid, I watched all of the old sci-fi shows and I always wanted to go to another planet," says Fox. "We can't go to the planets quite yet, so this is as good as it gets for now."

Kepler 159d has a mass comparable to that of Saturn, the second-largest planet in our solar system. And like Saturn, it is likely mostly composed of gases with no distinct solid surface.

Simulated view of the Kepler 159 system. Credit: University of Western Ontario

Whether Kepler 159d has rings or moons like Saturn is still unknown but what is known is that it orbits within its star's 'Habitable Zone,' which means temperatures are in the range suitable for Earth-life but there is no evidence on whether there is actually any life in the system.

The central star of Kepler 159d's planetary system is a red dwarf star (spectral class M0V) with a mass estimated at 52 per cent of that of our Sun. Its surface temperature is about 3600 Celsius (3893 Kelvin) while the Sun's is 5500C (5770 K).

The finding was published in the scientific journal, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Credit: University of Western Ontario

More information: Chris Fox et al, A New Planet in the Kepler-159 System From Transit Timing Variations, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (2018). Journal information: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Chris Fox et al, A New Planet in the Kepler-159 System From Transit Timing Variations,(2018). DOI: 10.1093/mnras/sty2738 </s> Ever since Chris Fox was a young boy, he wanted to visit alien planets. With no immediate plans for such a voyage, the Western University graduate student has done the next best thing. He's gone and found one.

Teamed with Paul Wiegert, Graduate Program Director at Western's renowned Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration (CPSX), Fox discovered the exoplanet - provisionally known as Kepler 159d - by investigating gravitational effects on Kepler 159b and Kepler 159c. These two previously discovered exoplanets were detected by NASA's Kepler Space Telescope, an observatory in space charged with finding planets outside our solar system, particularly alien planets that are around the same size as Earth in the habitable regions of their parent star.

For more data, images and an animation, please visit https:/

Kepler 159d was not actually seen by Fox and Wiegert rather it was variations in the orbits of Kepler 159b and Kepler that allowed the planetary scientists to deduce its presence.

"I've been a space buff since I was a little kid, I watched all of the old sci-fi shows and I always wanted to go to another planet," says Fox. "We can't go to the planets quite yet, so this is as good as it gets for now."

Kepler 159d has a mass comparable to that of Saturn, the second-largest planet in our solar system. And like Saturn, it is likely mostly composed of gases with no distinct solid surface.

Whether Kepler 159d has rings or moons like Saturn is still unknown but what is known is that it orbits within its star's 'Habitable Zone,' which means temperatures are in the range suitable for Earth-life but there is no evidence on whether there is actually any life in the system.

The central star of Kepler 159d's planetary system is a red dwarf star (spectral class M0V) with a mass estimated at 52 per cent of that of our Sun. Its surface temperature is about 3600 Celsius (3893 Kelvin) while the Sun's is 5500C (5770 K).

The finding was published in the scientific journal, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Western University delivers an academic experience second to none. Since 1878, The Western Experience has combined academic excellence with life-long opportunities for intellectual, social and cultural growth in order to better serve our communities. Our research excellence expands knowledge and drives discovery with real-world application. Western attracts individuals with a broad worldview, seeking to study, influence and lead in the international community. </s> Chris Fox has had a love affair with the stars since he was a child. Now, the Ph D student in the department of physics and astronomy at Western University is celebrating the discovery of a new exoplanet, a planet that is outside of our solar system.

"I was very excited," said Fox. "I got what I was looking for. It was a really good feeling."

Chris Fox, Ph D student at Western University

The new planet is called Kepler 159d. Fox found it by investigating gravitational effects on Kepler 159b and Kepler 159c, two exoplanets previously discovered by NASA's Kepler Space Telescope.

A red letter day

"Discovering new planets is not an everyday affair," said Paul Wiegert, Graduate Program Director at Western's Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration. "We were pretty ecstatic finding a new planet. A red letter day, for sure."

Wiegert said this discovery is not only exciting, it will help scientists understand our solar system.

"The beauty of exoplanets and astronomical research in general is that it tells us about our place in the universe," said Wiegert. "As we discover new exoplanets, we start to discover that these planets are actually quite different than what we have in our solar system."

The Goldilocks zone

Kepler 159d is about the same size as Saturn and orbits its star in 88 days, according to Fox. But, that's not all.

"One of the more exciting things is that it's in what's called the habitable zone. It's not too cold and it's not too hot. It's called the Goldilocks zone," said Fox.

That means there's the potential to have liquid water. But, does that mean there could be life on Kepler 159d?

"It would be a good first step," said Fox. "We have no indication one way or the other if there's life on it. And, since the planet is so big, it's probably a gas giant so if it did have life, it would probably be very, very different than what we think of as life here on earth."

Answering those types of "really, really big questions" is all part of the process said Wiegert.

"But, we have a long way to go." </s> The size of the newfound exoplanet places it right in the middle between Earth and Neptune, which is four times larger than our home planet.

Leading an entire team of astronomers from universities in Canada, Germany, and the U.S., grad school student Merrin Peterson has just discovered a new exoplanet “twice the size of Earth,” reports Science Daily.

The newfound planet orbits on old and bright star known as Wolf 503 and has been given the name Wolf 503b.

Peterson made the incredible discovery soon after starting her graduate studies at the Institute for Research on Exoplanets of the Université de Montréal in Canada, notes Outer Places.

And, as she herself points out, everything came together quite smoothly.

“The discovery and confirmation of this new exoplanet was very rapid, thanks to the collaboration that I and my advisor, Björn Benneke, are a part of,” Peterson said in a statement.

Together with Benneke, Peterson looked through data from NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope, specifically everything gathered during the spacecraft’s 17th observational campaign, and used the tried-and-true transiting method to spot any potential exoplanets.

As the Inquisitr previously reported, the transiting method involves searching for tiny dips in the brightness of a star, caused by an orbiting planet as it passes in front of it.

“In May, when the latest release of Kepler K2 data came in, we quickly ran a program that allowed us to find as many interesting candidate exoplanets as possible. Wolf 503b was one of them,” said Peterson.

Wolf 503b and its parent star are found a mere 145 light-years away from Earth, in the Virgo constellation, and make a very interesting pair.

For one thing, the exoplanet circles its star in a very tight orbit and sits about 10 times closer to Wolf 503 than Mercury is to the sun. At the same time, Wolf 503b has a radius of 2.03 times that of Earth, which places the exoplanet right near the Fulton gap — a marker that divides all the known Kepler planets into super-Earths and sub-Neptunes based on their size.

First described in a study published last year in the Astronomical Journal, the Fulton gap refers to a shortage of Kepler exoplanets ranging between 1.5 and two times the size of Earth. The study argues that most of the small planets discovered by Kepler and which orbit very close to their stars are either super-Earths, with a radius smaller than 1.5 times that of our planet, or sub-Neptunes, with two to three times the radius of Earth.

“Since there is nothing like them in our solar system, astronomers wonder whether these planets are small and rocky ‘super-Earths’ or gaseous mini-versions of Neptune,” explains Science Daily, citing the Université de Montréal.

Studying Wolf 503b will help scientists figure out more this peculiar class of exoplanets.

“It provides a key opportunity to better understand the origin of this radius gap as well as the nature of the intriguing populations of ‘super-Earths’ and ‘sub-Neptunes’ as a whole,” said Benneke.

Meanwhile, Wolf 503 is what astronomers call an “orange dwarf” — a star slightly bigger than our sun, with a mass 0.45 to 0.8 times larger, and slightly less luminous. A more famous example of an orange dwarf star is Alpha Centauri B, one of the three stars in the Alpha Centauri system sitting right on our cosmic doorstep and which could be friendly to life, as recently reported by the Inquisitr.

Unlike Alpha Centauri B, which is only a bit older than the sun, Wolf 503 is about twice as old. Its brightness and close proximity to our planet makes it a perfect study candidate for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, report the sources.

Once is launches in 2021, the telescope could find out more about the atmospheric composition of Wolf 503b by scoping out its parent star with a technique called transit spectroscopy. This will show whether the exoplanet has hydrogen or water molecules in its atmosphere.

“Wolf 503b is one of the only planets with a radius near the gap that has a star that is bright enough to be amenable to more detailed study that will better constrain its true nature,” said Benneke.

The discovery of Wolf 503b, along with everything we’ve learned about the exoplanet so far, is detailed in a paper available on the pre-print server arXiv.
Kepler 159d, a exoplanet with the same size as Saturn, is discovered by University of Western Ontario student Chris Fox and professor Paul Wiegert.