Undead planets: The unusual conditions of the first exoplanet detection

Thirty years ago, the first ever exoplanets were found around a rapidly rotating star. Astronomers have found that these planets are very rare. Iuliana Niu will present the new work tomorrow at the National Astronomy Meeting.

There are no known processes that cause planets to form. A survey of 800 pulsars followed by the Jodrell Bank Observatory has shown that less than 1% of all known pulsars could host Earth-mass planets.

The densest stars in the universe, called pulsas, are formed during powerful explosions at the end of a star's life. They have very strong magnetic fields. The stars emit bright radio emission from their magnetic poles as they spin.

Niu says that pulsars produce signals which sweep the Earth. Radio telescopes can pick up these signals and turn them into amazing science.

The first ever exoplanets were found around a pulsar. The rocky planets in our Solar System are not the only planets in the planetary system. A number of pulsars have been found to hold planets. The extremely violent conditions surrounding the births and lives of pulsars make 'normal' planet formation unlikely and many of these detected planets are exotic objects.

Astronomers at the University of Manchester searched for planets in the universe. The team looked for signals that indicated the presence of planetary companions with mass up to 100 times that of the Earth. The most promising is the system PSR J2007+3120 with the possibility of hosting at least two planets, with mass a few times bigger than the Earth, and orbital periods of 1.9 and 3.6 years.

The results of the work show no bias for the planets in the system. In contrast to our Solar System, these planets would have elliptical paths around their stars. The formation process for pulsar-planet systems is vastly different from traditional star-planet systems, according to this.

Niu saysPulsars are very interesting and exotic. Thirty years ago, the first extra-solar planets were discovered, but we don't know how these planets can survive in such extreme conditions. It is crucial to find out how common these are.