A group of astronomers from MIT and of the University Of Liègein collaboration with international experts, has discovered a planet of giant size but surprisingly light just like cotton candy, orbiting a distant star in our galaxy. This discovery, published yesterday on Nature Astronomyit could be fundamental to solving the mystery of the formation of superlight giant planets.
A planet as unusual as cotton candy
The planet in question, named WASP-193b, is 50% larger than Jupiter but has only a fraction of its density. Scientists describe it as a “cotton candy planet,” as its density is about a tenth that of Jupiter.
Doctor Khalid Barkaouipostdoc al MIT and lead author of the study, highlights the rarity of such discoveries among the more than 5,400 known planets. WASP-193b represents a case extreme in the category of “puffy Jupiters“, which has been the subject of study for 15 years.
Co-author Francisco Pozuelos, researcher at the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusiahighlights the difficulties of insertion WASP-193b in current models of planetary formation, as it deviates significantly from all known theories.
The initial discovery came about thanks to the project international Wide Angle Search for Planets (WASP), which monitors the brightness of thousands of stars. Astronomers have noticed periodic dips in brightness in the star WASP-193located 1,232 light years from Earth, indicating the presence of a planet that orbits every 6.25 days.
Despite the imposing dimensionsthe mass of WASP-193b it is so small that its gravitational influence on the star is difficult to detect with traditional techniques. After four years of data collection, the scientists they determined that the planet’s mass is about 0.14 that of Jupiter, with a density comparable to that of cotton candy.
The future of research
The scholars they hypothesize that the atmosphere of WASP-193bcomposed mainly of hydrogen and helium, extends tens of thousands of kilometers beyond that of Jupiter. Howeverhow a planet can maintain such a lightness remains an open question and currently unexplained by existing theories.
To further explore this fascinating world “fluffy“, the team will use techniques advanced to study the composition and the structure of the planet’s atmosphere. Among instruments key for future studies will be the James Webb Space Telescope.
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