tech
April 16, 2026
Super-Earth, Temperate Jupiter, and Brown Dwarf Confirmed in TOI-201 System
The super-Earth, named TOI-201 d, is a rocky planet about 1.4 times the size of Earth and six times more massive, completing an orbit around its star every 5.85 days.
TL;DR
- An international scientific team, including researchers from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), confirmed three bodies orbiting the TOI-201 exoplanetary system.
- The confirmed bodies are a super-Earth (TOI-201 d), a temperate Jupiter (TOI-201 b), and a brown dwarf (TOI-201 c).
- TOI-201 d is a rocky planet 1.4 times Earth's size with six times its mass, orbiting every 5.85 days and likely too hot for liquid water.
- TOI-201 b is a gas giant with half Jupiter's mass, orbiting every 53 days, and is of interest due to its intermediate orbit.
- TOI-201 c is a brown dwarf with a long, elliptical orbit of 7.9 years, and its mass is near the planet-brown dwarf boundary.
- The system is a unique laboratory for observing orbital changes on human timescales due to gravitational interactions between the bodies.
- Within approximately 200 years, the super-Earth will stop transiting its star from Earth's perspective, followed by the temperate Jupiter and brown dwarf, with transits potentially reappearing in thousands of years.
- Four observation techniques were used: radial velocity spectroscopy, transit photometry, transit time variations, and astrometry.
- The next transit of the brown dwarf TOI-201 c is predicted for March 26, 2031.