The appearance of a ‘super Jupiter’ with a mass 8 times the size of Jupiter is shaking up the large planet model
Twice the density of Earth… Size-to-mass too big, scientists ‘concerned’
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Eom Nam-seok = Planetary scientists have been troubled by the discovery of a strange gas giant planet that does not fit the current theory of planet formation.
This planet (HD 114082 b) seen in the constellation Centaurus, about 310 light years from Earth, is ‘super Jupiter’ with a similar diameter to Jupiter, but eight times the mass. Although it is made of light gases such as hydrogen and helium, it is said to be difficult to explain with the current theory of planet formation, as the density is twice that of Earth, a rocky planet.
According to ScienceAlert, a science media outlet, a research team led by Ukrainian astronomer Dr Olga Zahozai from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany published the results of the observation of the gas planet HD 114082 b in the journal ‘Astronomy and Astrophysics’ ( Astronomy & Astrophysics ).
HD 114082 b, which orbits a sun-like star with a period of 110 days, is a very young planet, only about 15 million years old. It was found to be the youngest of the gas giant planets whose planetary radius and mass have been confirmed.
The research team used the ‘TESS’ exoplanetary probe satellite and the 2.2m aperture telescope at La Silla, Chile, operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO), to determine the dip in starlight as HD 114082 b passes in front of the star. Long-term observations of the wobble of stars caused by the gravitational pull of sheep and planets.
This led them to conclude that HD 114082 b is similar in size to Jupiter, but eight times Jupiter’s mass. This means that the density of the planet is twice that of Earth and ten times that of Jupiter.
“According to the current theoretical models, HD 114082 b is about two to three times as dense as a young gas planet only 15 million years old,” said Zahhozai.
Current models of planet formation suggest that gas giant planets form from protoplanetary disks of gas and dust orbiting young stars via two pathways.
Rocky materials electrostatically combine to form a nucleus, and when gravity increases to a degree, gases such as hydrogen and helium are sucked in to form a large planet, or gravitational collapse occurs in a dense area in the disk , directly without a rocky core. that planets are made.
The first is called a ‘cold start’ because the gas cools quickly in the process of contacting the nucleus, and the latter is also called a ‘hot start’ because the gas retains thermal energy. It has been suggested that its mass is too large. for its size to account for.
So far, only three young giant planets less than 30 million years old, including HD 114082 b, have had their radius and mass determined, but all of them have been identified as which do not correspond to the hot start.
“It’s too early to give up on the hot start concept,” said co-author Ralph Raunhardt.
According to the current theory, HD 114082 b is too small for its mass, which suggests that it may have an unusually large nucleus, or that the theory is completely wrong, or both.
eomns@yna.co.kr
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