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.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the 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. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
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.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
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Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
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.