An international team of scientists led by Professor Abhijit Chakraborty of the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad, has discovered the densest extraterrestrial planet, which is 13 times the size of Jupiter. This is the third extrasolar planet discovered by researchers from India and PRL. The journal Astronomy & Astrophysics Letters has published the discovery’s specifics.

On the crew were scientists from India, Germany, Switzerland, and the United States. Using the PRL Advanced Radial-velocity Abu-sky Search spectrograph (PARAS) at the Gurushikhar Observatory on Mount Abu, the planet’s mass was precisely measured. The alien world has a mass of 14 g/cm3.

The newly discovered planet orbits the star TOI4603 or HD 245134. Initially, Nasa’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) believed that the star could host a second body of unknown composition. It is now certain that the object is a planet, and it has been designated TOI 4603b or HD 245134b.

Planet 731 light years from Earth circles its star every 7.24 days. 1396 degrees Celsius is the planet’s extreme temperature.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) stated in a press release that this discovery is distinct because the planet’s mass lies between that of massive planets and brown dwarfs. These planets have masses ranging from 11 to 16 times that of Jupiter. Less than five exoplanets with masses in this range are currently known.

Scientists are still searching for extraterrestrial life, but they have discovered over 5,000 extrasolar planets. The proportions, dimensions, and atmospheres of these planets differ. TOI 4603b, a recently discovered exoplanet, is one of the most enormous and dense giant planets.

It orbits its host star at a distance of less than one-tenth the distance between the Sun and Earth. According to Isro, the discovery of these types of systems provides crucial insight into how large planets form, travel, and evolve over time.