Hot Jupiter Marshmallow on a cold star

There is a hot planet Jupiter whose density is spongy like Marshmallow turning red dwarf star in the constellation of Auriga!

To date, at least 5,210 exoplanets have been discovered, also known as planets orbiting other stars. Not only that, there are still more than 8000 planet candidates to be confirmed. This is what was found. Imagine if a star in the Milky Way had a planet. Then there are at least billions of planets in our galaxy. Not to mention the other galaxies.

This time, astronomers discovered a gas giant planet orbiting the star from a close range. This is not a strange thing. Gas giant planets like this one we know as hot Jupiter planets. This type of planet was the first to be found orbiting a sun-like star and is quite common.

But, this time, the hot planet Jupiter was found in a star smaller and colder than the sun. Red dwarf star.

Interesting? Of course.

Hot Jupiter and red dwarf stars

According to astronomers, gas giant planets do not form easily in red dwarfs. Observations using the radial velocity method have found the presence of gas giant planets in red dwarf stars. But the location is far from stellar. For those close to red dwarf stars, that’s not much.

Red dwarfs are the smallest and coldest stars in the main sequence. Compared to the Sun, red dwarfs are clearly smaller and cooler. However, being close to a red dwarf isn’t safe.

Red dwarf stars are very active. The explosions that occur in red dwarfs also produce stellar flares that can strip the atmosphere of nearby planets!

And if there is gas giant planet forming near a red dwarf, so the gas is easily removed and what is left is just a thin core of rock. Again, what remains is a rocky planet.

To put it simply, red dwarfs are not a hospitable environment for the formation and survival of gas giant planets near the stars. However, astronomers found Jupiter hot in this type of star. Obviously this is a question of how such planets can form near the stars.

Planet Marshmallow

TOI-3757 planet b. This is the planet discovered by astronomers. More precisely confirmed its existence by astronomers. From its name, we can say that TOI-3757 b was first discovered by TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite). TOI is short for TESS object of interest, or the object that is the observation target of TESS, a NASA detection telescope that observes exoplanets using the transit method.

After the candidate planet was discovered by TESS, astronomers made further observations to confirm the planet’s existence. This time, astronomers used the 3.5-meter WIYN telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, Arizona.

Planet TOI-3757 b was found orbiting the star TOI-3757 580 light years from Earth in the constellation Auriga. Interestingly, this planet is a gas giant planet or hot Jupiter planet that is very close to the star.

TOI-3757 b takes only 3.5 days to orbit its parent star or 25 times faster than Mercury, which takes 88 days to orbit the Sun. Compared to Jupiter, TOI-3757 b is only slightly larger than Jupiter . The diameter of this hot Jupiter is 150,000 km while Jupiter is 139,820 km.

Interestingly, this planet is similar to Marshmallow. To be precise, the density of this planet is very low just like Marshmallow or chewy sweets. Indeed, TOI-3757 b is the lowest density planet ever found orbiting a red dwarf.

From observations of the radial velocity, astronomers found that TOI-3757 b’s mass is only a quarter of Jupiter’s mass or 85 times more massive than Earth. This means that the density of this planet is also very low, only 0.27 grams / cm³ or half the density of Saturn. Even when compared to water, the density or density of this planet is only a quarter of the density of water. Density equals density Marshmallow.

So, if we put the planet TOI-3757 b in a giant bathtub full of water, then this planet will float.

In addition to how hot Jupiter could form near the red dwarfs, another question arises, how hot Jupiter is with a density like gummy candies. Marshmallow it can form near red dwarfs.

Formation of hot Jupiter in Red Dwarf

The formation of the gas giant planets was preceded by the formation of a massive rocky core that quickly attracted large amounts of gas around it.

From observations, it appears that the heavy element content in the TOI-3757 star is lower or lower than in other red dwarf stars. As a result, the formation of the rock cores proceeds slowly and eventually also slows down the accretion process of the gas so that the gas giant planets that form have a low density.

Another factor affecting the formation of low-density hot Jupiter planets near stars is planetary orbits. Presumably, planet TOI-3757 b has a slightly more elliptical orbit so that when the planet is closer to the star, it overheats causing the planet’s atmosphere to swell!

Of course, further observations are needed to understand how a hot, low-density Jupiter planet could form near a red dwarf. One of them with the James Webb telescope.

What will the results look like and are there still similar planets found in the red dwarfs? We await the results of other observations in the future.

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