PRL Scientists Discover New Exoplanet TOI-6038A b Using PARAS-2 Spectrograph.

Science and Technology

In February 2025, scientists at the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), an autonomous unit of the Department of Space (DOS) of the Government of India (GOI) in Ahmedabad, discovered a new exoplanet, TOI-6038A b. It is classified as a dense sub-Saturn-sized planet with a mass of 78.5 Earth masses and a radius of 6.41 Earth radii in a wide binary system. The planet orbits the main F-type star every 5.83 days in a circular orbit.


      - The TOI-6038A b lies in the transition region between Neptune-like and gas-giant exoplanets, called "Sub-Saturn" (a category absent in our solar system), offering a rare opportunity to study planetary formation and evolution.

      - This is the 2nd exoplanet discovered using the PRL Advanced Radial-velocity All-sky Search-2 (PARAS-2) spectrograph attached to the 2.5-meter (m) telescope at PRL's Mount Abu Observatory at Gurushikhar, Rajasthan.

      - It is also the 5th exoplanet detected using the combined efforts of PRL Advanced Radial Velocity Abu Sky Search (PARAS-1) and PARAS-2 spectrographs. It is only the 5th sub-Saturn exoplanet discovered in a binary system.

Main Point :-   (i) TOI-6038A b has a high density of 1.62 grams per cubic centimeter (g/cm³), suggesting its formation through High-Eccentricity Tidal Migration (HEM) or early disk-driven migration. Its internal structure analysis indicates that 75% of its mass consists of a massive rocky core, while the remaining 25% is a Hydrogen-Helium (H/He) envelope.

      (ii) Its host star, TOI-6038A, is part of a binary system with a companion K-type star, TOI-6038B, which is located 3217 Astronomical Units (AU) away.

(iii) PARAS-2 is Asia's highest-resolution stabilized radial velocity (RV) spectrograph.

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