Context: 

A new Jupiter­ size exoplanet with the highest density known till this date and mass 13 times than that of Jupiter, has been discovered by an international team of scientists.

About the news: 

• The newly discovered exoplanet TOI 4603b is one of the most massive and densest giant planets that orbits very close to its host star at a distance less than 1/10th the distance between our Sun and Earth.
• Discovery led by: Exoplanet Research Group of the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad.
• Instruments used: Indigenously made PRL Advanced Radial Velocity Abu­sky Search spectrograph (PARAS) at the 1.2 m telescope of PRL at its Gurushikhar Observatory in Mt. Abu. 
• Location: It is found around the star called TOI4603 or HD 245134.

What is an Exoplanet?

• An exoplanet is any planet beyond our solar system. 
• Most of them orbit other stars, but free-floating exoplanets, called rogue planets, orbit the galactic centre and are untethered to any star.
• Exoplanets are made up of elements similar to those of the planets in our solar system, but their mixes of those elements may differ. 
• Some planets may be dominated by water or ice, while others are dominated by iron or carbon.
• Exoplanets come in a wide variety of sizes, from gas giants larger than Jupiter to small, rocky planets about as big around as Earth or Mars. 
• They can be hot enough to boil metal or locked in a deep freeze. 
• They can orbit their stars so tightly that a “year” lasts only a few days; they can orbit two suns at once. 
• Some exoplanets are sunless rogues, wandering through the galaxy in permanent darkness.

New Source: The Hindu, NASA

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