Astronomers reveal the discovery of a strange planet because it is 50% larger than Jupiter, but its mass is about 10 times lighter.
An international team of astronomers has discovered an unusual planet, dubbed WASP-193b, which is about 50% larger than Jupiter, but the second lightest planet ever discovered.
WASP-193b is located outside our solar system, about 1,200 light-years from Earth, and it's not just a scientific oddity. Because this exoplanet could hold the key to future research investigating the formation of unusual planets.
WASP-193b isn't the only strangely light planet. There are other similar planets that scientists call “giant planets.” “Puffy Jupiter”, for example, the lightest planet ever discovered is Kepler 51d, which is about the size of Jupiter. But it is 100 times lighter.
The fat Jupiter has been a mystery for 15 years, but given its size, Khaled Barkafi, a researcher in Earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a member of the team studying WASP-193b, said that the fat Jupiter has been a mystery for 15 years, due to its size. For its size. 193b said: 193b is therefore an ideal candidate for further analysis by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and other observatories.
“This planet is so light that it's hard to think of a comparable solid… The reason it's similar to cotton candy is because they're both made mostly of light gases rather than solids. The planet is basically very light,” El-Bakawi said.
Researchers believe that WASP-193b is composed mostly of hydrogen and helium. It's a big puzzle for researchers to piece together. This is because the density of exoplanets is very light compared to their size. Calculating mass becomes a challenge.
Scientists usually determine mass using a technique called mass spectrometry. The radial velocity or spectroscopy of stars, which shows the intensity of light emission at a range of wavelengths. How does it change when a planet orbits its star? The larger the planet, the more the star's spectrum changes, the more it changes. But this method does not work with WASP-193b, which is very light.
To be sure, the team spent four years collecting data, calculating the mass of WASP-193b, and conducting multiple experiments to analyze the data.
Francisco Pozuelos, senior researcher at the Spanish Institute of Astrophysics in Andalusia. “At first we found very low densities,” one of the researchers said. “It was very hard to believe at first.”
The team eventually discovered that WASP-193b's mass is only 14% of Jupiter's mass. Although it is much larger.
But it is still unclear how WASP-193b was formed. Al-Bakawi said. “Classical models of the evolution” of the gas giant do little to explain this phenomenon, “WASP-193b is unusual among all the planets we have discovered so far.”
Compiled from CNN
Thai Women's Volleyball Program Nations League 2024 on Friday night, May 17, 2024.
Summary of results of the 2024 Women's Volleyball Nations League or VNL 2024 on May 16-17, 2024.
6 vegetables that prevent fatty liver, get rid of toxins, and have properties that can help prevent liver cancer.