The appearance of a ‘super Jupiter’ with a mass of 8 times the size of Jupiter shakes up a large planet model
Twice the Earth’s density… Size-to-mass too large, scientists ‘concerned’
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Eom Nam-seok = Planetary scientists have been troubled by the discovery of a strange large gas planet that does not fit the current theory of planet formation.
This planet (HD 114082 b) observed in the constellation Centaurus, about 310 light-years from Earth, is a ‘super Jupiter’ with a diameter similar to Jupiter, but eight times the mass. Even though it is made of light gases such as hydrogen and helium, it is said that it is difficult to explain with the current theory of planet formation, as the density is twice that of the Earth, a rocky planet.
According to ScienceAlert, a science media outlet, a research team led by Ukrainian astronomer Dr. Olga Zahozai of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany published the observation results 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 among gas giant planets whose planetary radius and mass have been confirmed.
The research team used the exoplanet exploration satellite ‘TESS’ and the 2.2m aperture telescope at La Silla, Chile, operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO), to determine the decrease in starlight as HD 114082 b passes in front of the star. Long-term observations of star wobbling 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 planet’s density is twice that of Earth and ten times that of Jupiter.
“According to current theoretical models, HD 114082 b is about two to three times as dense as a young gas planet only 15 million years old,” Zahhozai said.
Current models of planet formation suggest that large gaseous planets form from protoplanetary disks of gas and dust orbiting young stars through two pathways.
Rocky materials combine electrostatically to form a nucleus, and when gravity increases to a certain extent, 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 former is called ‘cold start’ because the gas cools down quickly in the process of attaching to the nucleus, and the latter is also called ‘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, there are only three young large planets less than 30 million years old, including HD 114082 b, whose radius and mass have been identified, but all of them have been pointed out as not matching 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, suggesting that it may have an unusually large nucleus, or the theory is completely wrong, or both.
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