SA scientists discover bloated, ‘Styrofoamy’ planet
The exoplanet‚ dubbed Kelt-11b after the telescopes that found it‚ orbits a star 320 light years away and is a gas giant similar to Jupiter and Saturn
A planet with the density of Styrofoam has been discovered by researchers at the South African Astronomical Observatory in Sutherland. The exoplanet‚ dubbed Kelt-11b after the telescopes that found it‚ orbits a star 320 light years away and is a gas giant similar to Jupiter and Saturn. But it hugs its host star‚ Kelt-11‚ so closely that it completes an orbit in less than five days. And‚ while it has only a fifth of Jupiter’s mass‚ it is 40% larger in radius. "This means that this new bloated planet has about the same density as Styrofoam‚" an observatory spokesperson said on Thursday after the publication of the researcher’s findings in The Astronomical Journal. "This puffed-up planet also has a very large atmosphere‚ providing researchers the opportunity to study its atmospheric properties in detail. These studies will be useful for developing tools to assess earth-like planets for signs of life in future." The Kelt (Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope) project consists of two sm...
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