An exoplanet smaller than Neptune with its own atmosphere has been discovered

Exoplanet NGTS-4b — also known as ‘The Forbidden Planet’ Credit: University of Warwick/Mark Garlick

An exoplanet smaller than Neptune with its own atmosphere has been discovered in the Neptunian Desert, by an international collaboration of astronomers, with the University of Warwick taking a leading role. The Neptunian Desert is the region close to stars where no Neptune-sized planets are found. Usually only dips of 1% and more are picked up by ground-based searches, but the NGTS telescopes can pick up a dip of just 0.2%

Researchers believe the planet may have moved into the Neptunian Desert recently, in the last one million years, or it was very big and the atmosphere is still evaporating.

Source: phys.org