A team made up of international astronomers have discovered the biggest exoplanet so far. I would have included a fancy picture of the planet, but.. there isn’t one. Sorry. The planet is big, 70% larger than our own big brother Jupiter. One of the main differences between the two though is that their masses are not similar at all. The newly discovered planet’s density is a low 0.2 grams per cubic centimeter, and is presumed by scientists to be a gas planet. The star it’s circling around, GSC02620-00648 (you are not going to remember this name in 10 seconds!) is located 1435 light years from our own planet. And it’s hot on there, an estimated 1327 Celsius or 2300 Fahrenheit. Read the BBC article below to find out how scientists discovered this exoplanet.
An international team of astronomers has discovered the largest known planet orbiting another star.
The “transiting” planet – meaning one that passes in front of its parent star as seen from Earth – is about 70% larger than Jupiter.
But the presumed “gas giant” has a much lower mass than Jupiter – the biggest planet in our Solar System – making it of extremely low density.
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