In the study, researchers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory found that planets can slow down the aging process of their host stars, forcing the planets to age their host stars younger. This could be good evidence for researchers that a hot Jupiter (a gas giant exoplanet that orbits a star at or close to Mercury’s distance) can slow down the aging of a growing star, researchers say. The anti-aging property has been systematically documented, and this anti-aging property has been observed for the first time, providing the most robust test.
Nicoletta Ilik of the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP), who led the new study, says that hot Jupiters are actually forming those stars, Ilic believes, a hot Jupiter orbiting its host star. Tidal forces can cause the star to spin faster, if a star does not have such a planet, it will not spin as fast. Hot Jupiters can make their host star more active with a faster rotation, and thereby generate greater amounts of X-rays, the kind of signals usually associated with stellar youth. Researchers believe that there are many events in which stars will slow down their rotation and activity, so that they will undergo fewer explosions as they age.
It is difficult for researchers to know whether a truly hot Jupiter influences its host star with tidal forces; if such an event occurs, the star may be normally active. If a star is normally active, it is challenging to determine its exact age, as it is difficult for astronomers to identify whether one is actually unusually active.
The new Chandra study, led by Ilick, seeks to understand this problem by looking at the double-star system, how active the star would normally be if one of the two stars orbited the hot Jupiter. In binary systems, stars form at the same time, and the separation between the two stars affects each other; If a hot Jupiter impacts one star, can the other be explained by how much the hot Jupiter affected the host star.
By comparing a star with a nearby planet to a twin without it, we can study differences in the behavior of stars of similar age, says co-author Katja Poppenhager of AIP, the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP),To determine how a young star is acting, the research team studied about three dozen systems to determine how much the planet would affect the star. The research team found 10 systems observed by Chandra X-rays and six systems by ESA’s XMM-Newton, all X-rays, that Jupiter stars are brighter in X-rays, and more so than stars without hot Jupiters are active.