Scientists uncover a big, ‘cotton candy-like’ planet with an unusually low density

Norman Ray

World Courant

Astronomers have found an exoplanet that’s bigger than Jupiter however extremely light-weight, much like cotton sweet. The planet, named WASP-193b, has an unusually low density in comparison with fuel giants like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Lead writer Khalid Barkaoui of MIT describes the planet as “tremendous fluffy” as a consequence of its composition of principally mild gases moderately than solids.

Astronomers have recognized a planet bigger than Jupiter but surprisingly as fluffy and light-weight as cotton sweet.

The exoplanet has an awfully low density for its measurement, a world staff reported on Tuesday. The fuel giants in our photo voltaic system – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune – are a lot denser.

“The planet is definitely tremendous fluffy” as a result of it’s made up principally of sunshine gases moderately than solids, lead writer Khalid Barkaoui of the Massachusetts Institute of Expertise stated in an announcement.

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Scientists say an outlier like WASP-193b is good for finding out unconventional planetary formation and evolution.

This illustration from NASA exhibits the planet WASP 193-b. Scientists reported on Might 14, 2024 that the exoplanet has such a low density for its measurement that it has the consistency of cotton sweet. (NASA by way of entry level)

The planet was confirmed final yr, nevertheless it took extra time and work to find out its consistency based mostly on ground-based telescope observations. It’s regarded as composed primarily of hydrogen and helium, in keeping with the research revealed in Nature Astronomy.

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The planet is about 1200 mild years away. A light-weight yr is 5.8 trillion kilometers. In accordance with the researchers, it’s the second-lightest exoplanet discovered thus far based mostly on its measurement and mass.

Scientists uncover a big, ‘cotton candy-like’ planet with an unusually low density

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