{"id":51059,"date":"2024-05-15T11:41:10","date_gmt":"2024-05-15T11:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/15\/wasp-193b-super-fluffy-candy-floss-planet-bigger-than-jupiter-discovered-by-astronomers\/"},"modified":"2024-05-15T11:41:10","modified_gmt":"2024-05-15T11:41:10","slug":"wasp-193b-super-fluffy-candy-floss-planet-bigger-than-jupiter-discovered-by-astronomers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/15\/wasp-193b-super-fluffy-candy-floss-planet-bigger-than-jupiter-discovered-by-astronomers\/","title":{"rendered":"WASP-193b: ‘Super fluffy’ candy floss planet bigger than Jupiter discovered by astronomers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"WASP-193b:<\/div>


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Astronomers have identified a planet as light and fluffy as candy floss – despite being far bigger than our solar system’s gas giant Jupiter.<\/p>\n

Scientists said WASP-193b is “basically super fluffy” because it has remarkably low density for its size.<\/p>\n

It’s thought to consist mostly of hydrogen and helium, according to a study published in Nature Astronomy.<\/p>\n

WASP-193b is the second least dense planet discovered by astronomers – but is proving a mystery to experts due to its size, which is around 50 per cent bigger than Jupiter.<\/p>\n

“The planet is basically super fluffy” because it’s made mostly of light gases rather than solids, according to lead author Khalid Barkaoui of the Massachusetts Institute Of Technology (MIT).<\/p>\n

More observational work will need to be carried out before astronomers can answer all the questions posed by its “fluffy” existence.<\/p>\n

Scientists said WASP-193b, which some experts believe is so light it could float on water, is ideal for studying the formation and evolution of planets.<\/p>\n

The existence of the exoplanet – those beyond our solar system – was confirmed last year, but it took extra time and work to determine its consistency based on observations from ground telescopes.<\/p>\n

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The planet is located outside of our solar system some 1,200 light years away – one light year is equal to 5.8 trillion miles – and orbits a star which is similar to the sun.<\/p>\n

It is thought the heat from its nearby sun, which it orbits a little over every six days, could be making its atmosphere inflate.<\/p>\n

Read more:
Astrocomb could help discover Earth-like planets<\/a>
New experiment to search for mysterious hidden particles<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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The fluffy planet’s emergence comes days after researchers revealed there is a “super-Earth” located in our Milky Way galaxy.<\/p>\n

The rocky world, called 55 Cancri e or Janssen, is situated around 41 light years from Earth and has a diameter of around twice that of our planet.<\/p>\n

Renyu Hu, of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the lead author of the study published in the journal Nature, said: “The atmosphere is likely rich in carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide, but can also have other gases such as water vapour and sulphur dioxide.<\/p>\n

“The current observations cannot pinpoint the exact atmospheric composition.”<\/p>\n

The planet “cannot be habitable” because it is too hot to have liquid water, scientists added.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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Astronomers have identified a planet as light and fluffy as candy floss – despite being far bigger than our solar system’s gas giant Jupiter. Scientists said WASP-193b is “basically super fluffy” because it has remarkably low density for its size. It’s thought to consist mostly of hydrogen and helium, according to a study published in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51060,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/24\/03\/512x512\/skynews-gfxwhatsapppromo-gfxwhatsapp_6490206.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[607],"tags":[7604,1166,51051,600,51052,31896,51053,5045,961,51050],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51059"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51059"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51059\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51061,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51059\/revisions\/51061"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}