Astronomers Uncover a Baffling “Cosmic Mystery” – A Giant Planet As Fluffy as Cotton Candy.

Science and Technology

This exoplanet is larger but seven times less massive than Jupiter and is the second least dense planet discovered to date. An international team led by researchers from the EXOTIC Laboratory of the University of Liège, in collaboration with MIT and the Astrophysics Institute in Andalusia, has just discovered WASP-193b, an extraordinarily low-density giant planet orbiting a distant Sun-like star.WASP-193b, a new exoplanet, is 50% larger than Jupiter but seven times less massive, with an extremely low density similar to cotton candy. Discovered by WASP and confirmed with observatories in Chile, its formation challenges current planetary theories and demands further study. Credit: SciTechDaily.com


      WASP, an international collaboration of academic institutions, initially spotted the new planet using two robotic observatories equipped with wide-angle cameras.

      Observations from the WASP-South observatory between 2006-2008 and 2011-2012 detected periodic transits, enabling astronomers to estimate the planet's size by measuring the amount of light blocked during each transit.

     

 

     


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