Astronomers discover an exoplanet with the density of a marshmallow
Using ground-based telescopes to gather more data about an exoplanet discovered by the orbiting TESS telescope, astronomers have found that it has the density of a marshmallow.
The planet orbits a red dwarf star, the most common star in the universe, and is the “fluffiest” yet seen around this type of star.
Red dwarf stars are the smallest and dimmest members of so-called main-sequence stars — stars that convert hydrogen into helium in their cores at a steady rate. Though “cool” compared to stars like our Sun, red dwarf stars can be extremely active and erupt with powerful flares capable of stripping a planet of its atmosphere, making this star system a seemingly inhospitable location to form such a gossamer planet.
Astronomers remain puzzled how such a large fluffy planet could have formed around such a dim small star.
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Using ground-based telescopes to gather more data about an exoplanet discovered by the orbiting TESS telescope, astronomers have found that it has the density of a marshmallow.
The planet orbits a red dwarf star, the most common star in the universe, and is the “fluffiest” yet seen around this type of star.
Red dwarf stars are the smallest and dimmest members of so-called main-sequence stars — stars that convert hydrogen into helium in their cores at a steady rate. Though “cool” compared to stars like our Sun, red dwarf stars can be extremely active and erupt with powerful flares capable of stripping a planet of its atmosphere, making this star system a seemingly inhospitable location to form such a gossamer planet.
Astronomers remain puzzled how such a large fluffy planet could have formed around such a dim small star.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
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4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
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Dang…..
That story made me hungry !
Now where Oh Where..
Did I put that Five Pound jar of
Marshmallows…
This time???
Behind the four Five pound Jars of Animal Crackers?
Especially in light of articles like this one about Gliese 1252 –
https://news.ucr.edu/articles/2022/10/21/discovery-could-dramatically-narrow-search-space-creatures
Planets transit-close to a M dwarf flare star should have lost their atmospheres over the average age of a M dwarf, which is very old.
Okay, I read the article. Marshmallow-world is 85 Earth masses, contrast Saturn @95 (itself famously light in the loafers). For some reason I’d assumed this world was a superEarth not a subSaturn.
I’m thinking: migration, from maybe 1 AU, which in this system would allow for a heavy envelope of hydrogen.