The Newly Discovered ExoWorlds: what are they?

[Eli]

Currently, there is a exoworlds naming project; every country in the world has been assigned a pair of exoworlds, a planet and a star by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to run a naming competition. Let's briefly explain what are the exoworlds, and generally discuss, what stars and planets are made up of.

What are stars made up of?

Stars are made up of very hot gas, mostly composed of the two lightest elements, hydrogen and helium. They produce light by burning hydrogen into helium in their cores, whereof at the later stages of their lives, they create heavier elements. Most stars have small proportions of heavier elements (more likely, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and iron). Stars cease to exist by running out of fuel and ejecting most of their materials back into space. The materials ejected into space are then used to form new stars. As a result, materials in stars are reused/recycled for new star formation. Even the small amount of heavier elements we see in the living stars was created by stars that existed before them.

What are planets made up of?

Planets that are part of the solar system are made up of varying materials. Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, here namely, the inner planets, are small and rocky, made up of mostly silicate minerals, iron, and nickel. The Earth's composition is largely iron, silicon, and oxygen.

What is the exoplanet?

Exoplanets are planets found beyond the solar system. Scientists believe that most of the exoplanets are composed of elements similar to those found on Earth. But, astronomers suggest that there may be many planets made mainly of diamond or graphite. A recent statistical estimate, on average, places at least one planet (many of them being in the range of Earth's size) around every star in the Milky Way (our galaxy) Galaxy, making roughly an order of trillion planets in our Galaxy alone. Each planet, therefore, has its parent star, and as the planet transits across the face of its star, light from it shines through the planet. This light is scientifically important in studying many phenomena tied to the exoworlds and their planetary systems.