Artist's rendering of the HD 114082 system. Credit: ESO/S. Brunier
It's 2234, you're on your annual class field trip touring exoplanets, and your teacher informs everyone they can pick one more exoplanetary system to explore before heading back to Earth. You and your classmates are exhausted from the day's activities and you're hungry. However, you get really excited because you already know what everyone will want. You and your classmates all shout in unison, "The young and far away puffy ones!"
This fictionalized tale describes HD 114082 b and HD 114082 c, which are two gas giant exoplanets located approximately 311 light-years from Earth and are the topic of a recent study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. While gas giant exoplanets are incredibly common, these two gas giants exhibit unique characteristics.
Specifically, the orbital periods of HD 114082 b and HD 114082 c are approximately 225 and 314 days, respectively. However, the researchers note the latter has a margin of error of about 9%. Additionally, both exoplanets and their star are incredibly young, with their star being only about 15 million years old. For context, our sun is approximately 4.5 billion years old.
