Albert Einstein's theory aids discovery of new planet

Astronomers, for the first-time,
have discovered an exoplanet using
a new method that relies on Albert
Einstein's special theory of
relativity.
"Einstein's planet," formally known
as Kepler-76b, is a "hot Jupiter"
that orbits its star every 1.5 days.
Its diameter is about 25 per cent
larger than Jupiter and it weighs
twice as much. It orbits a type F
star located about 2,000 light-years
from Earth in the constellation
Cygnus. The planet is tidally locked
to its star, always showing the
same face to it, just as the Moon is
tidally locked to Earth. As a result,
Kepler-76b broils at a temperature
of about 1,982 degrees Celsius.
Interestingly, the team found strong
evidence that the planet has
extremely fast jet-stream winds
that carry the heat around it. As a
result, the hottest point on
Kepler-76b isn't the substellar
point ("high noon") but a location
offset by about 16093.4 km.
This effect has only been observed
once before, on HD 189733b, and
only in infrared light with the
Spitzer Space Telescope. This is the
first time optical observations have
shown evidence of alien jet stream
winds at work.
The two most prolific techniques for
finding exoplanets are radial
velocity (looking for wobbling stars)
and transits (looking for dimming
stars).
The new method looks for three
small effects that occur
simultaneously as a planet orbits
the star. Einstein's "beaming" effect
causes the star to brighten as it
moves toward us, tugged by the
planet, and dim as it moves away.
The brightening results from
photons "piling up" in energy, as
well as light getting focused in the
direction of the star's motion due to
relativistic effects.
"This is the first time that this
aspect of Einstein's theory of
relativity has been used to discover
a planet," said co-author Tsevi
Mazeh of Tel Aviv University.