The recently discovered exoplanet greatly surprised scientists.
The astronomers studied a very young gas giant similar to Jupiter and found that it had properties that did not match either of the two popular models used for the formation of giant planets. ScienceAlert writes that this exoplanet is very heavy for its age.
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2 times denser than Earth, 10 times denser than Jupiter
Scientists have discovered one of the youngest exoplanets known to science. A gas giant called HD-114082b, 15 million years old and orbiting its parent star 300 light-years away. If you understand how they form, this information will allow you to understand how planets are formed in general, because this process has not yet been fully studied.
Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany have found from long-term observations that HD-114082b is similar in size to Jupiter, but 8 times heavier than this planet. This means its density is 10 times that of Jupiter and 2 times that of Earth. By the way, our planet is the densest of all the planets in the solar system.
“Compared to currently accepted models, HD-114082b’s density is about two to three times that of a young 15-million-year-old gas giant,” says Olga Zakhozhai (born in Ukraine, by the way) of the Max Planck Research Institute. Astronomy.
The size and mass of this planet suggest that it is very unlikely to be a very large rocky planet, but still becomes a gas giant. But the formation process of HD-114082b remains a mystery to scientists.
How are planets formed?
Scientists currently believe that giant planets form in two ways, and both of these processes occur within a protoplanetary disk of gas and dust surrounding a young star.
- For example, during a planet-forming process called a “cold start,” an exoplanet is collected from debris floating in a protoplanetary disk. The more debris accumulates, the faster the planet grows in mass and increases in size. After that, the atmosphere around the stone core is formed.
- The second formation of planets, called a “hot start”, suggests that instability in the protoplanetary disk caused gas and dust to swirl and become trapped in a particular location under the influence of gravity. The result is a fully formed planet composed of gases, with no stone core.
A planet like no other
However, HD-114082b’s characteristics indicate that this planet does not fit into the so-called “hot start” mode of formation. The planet’s size and mass suggest it must have formed during a “cold start.” But still, even in this case, the planet is very heavy for its size. How this happens is not yet clear. According to scientists, it is too early to say that the “hot start” model should be abandoned, as the process of formation of giant planets is still not fully understood.
Exopalnet HD-114082b is one of three planets known to astronomers of known size and mass, less than 30 million years old. But the most interesting thing is that all three do not fit the known patterns of planet formation.
As already written FocusScientists have discovered a “super-Earth” that is 10 times heavier than our planet, has very bad weather, and lasts only 14.5 hours a year.
As for other astronomical works, then Focus He has already written that scientists have discovered an unexpected reason for so much background radiation in the universe.
Source: Focus
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