Carnegie Institution for Science | 2020 Mar 02
Some of the extremely low-density, “cotton candy like” exoplanets called super-puffs may actually have rings, according to new research ...
Super-puffs are notable for having exceptionally large radii for their masses—which would give them seemingly incredibly low densities. The adorably named bodies have been confounding scientists since they were first discovered, because they are unlike any planets in our Solar System and challenge our ideas of what distant planets can be like. ...
The radii of exoplanets are measured during transits—when the exoplanet crosses in front of its host star causing a dip in the star’s light. The greater the size of the dip, the larger the exoplanet.
“We started to wonder, if you were to look back at us from a distant world, would you recognize Saturn as a ringed planet, or would it appear to be a puffy planet to an alien astronomer?” Vissapragada asked. ...
Exploring Whether Super-Puffs Can Be Explained as Ringed Exoplanets ~ Anthony L. Piro, Shreyas Vissapragada
- Astronomical Journal 159(4):131 (2020 Apr) DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/ab7192
- arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1911.09673 > 21 Nov 2019 (v1), 29 Jan 2020 (v2)