Planet as light as 'cotton candy'

Astronomers have just discovered a strange planet, huge in size but with the second least dense matter ever discovered by astronomers. The newly discovered celestial body is called WASP-193b, and has a density of only about 0.059 grams of matter/cm3, equivalent to. a cotton candy.

The density of matter on WASP-193b is equivalent to 1/7 the mass of Jupiter. You may not know, Jupiter is 50 times larger than Earth, but its material density is only about 1% of Earth.

Professor Julien de Wit from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, co-author of the study, said that this planet is so light that it is difficult to compare it to a mass of matter. And it is made up mainly of air, light as cotton so it is compared to cotton candy.

WASP-193b is located about 1,181 light years from Earth, first discovered in 2023 by the Wide Angle Search for Planets (WASP) project.

Research results show that it takes WASP-193b 6.2 Earth days to orbit a star the size of the Sun, at a distance equivalent to 7% of the distance from the Earth to the Sun. WASP-193b completes one rotation every 6.2 Earth days.

Astronomers say WASP-193b is 'as light as a feather' because its mass is equivalent to 0.139 times that of Jupiter, but is 1.5 times larger than Jupiter. As for the density of matter, WASP-193b has 0.059 grams/cm3, Jupiter has 1.33 grams/cm3, and Earth has 5.51 grams of matter per cubic centimeter of space.

Therefore, WASP-193b is comparable to a cotton candy or a disposable Styrofoam cup.

Mr. Khalid Barkaoui, co-author of the study, said that WASP-193b is the second lowest density planet ever discovered, behind Kepler-51d which is much smaller in size.

Researchers believe that WASP-193b is made of hydrogen and helium, but they have not yet explained why WASP-193b's size is so large.

Jessica Tanner

Update 03 June 2024