Jakarta –
There are so many planet in this universe, of various sizes. So, what biggest planet known so far?
Before 1992, when the first exoplanet was discovered, the gas giant Jupiter, which is about 11 times the width of Earth, held the title of largest planet. But Jupiter pales in comparison to some of the monster planets discovered since then.
As quoted detikINET from Live Science, there are two measurements that are considered when determining the size of a planet, namely its width (twice its radius) and its mass.
Measuring with the former, the largest exoplanet has a radius about twice that of Jupiter. “This is an extreme object that orbits very close to its parent star,” said Solene Ulmer-Moll, an exoplanet researcher at the University of Geneva.
The width of a planet and its mass are related, but there is not always a direct correlation. This is because planets vary in density, meaning some low-mass gas giants can ‘expand’ to larger sizes than other, heavier exoplanets.
For example, the gas giant HAT-P-67 b, with a radius about twice that of Jupiter, is currently one of the largest known planets in terms of width. However, the planet, which is 1,200 light years from Earth, has a very low density, so it only has about a third of the mass of Jupiter.
Wasp-17 b is also about twice as wide as Jupiter. The runner-up is KELT-9b, whose radius is 1.84 times that of Jupiter.
Most rocky planets never approach the size of ‘super Jupiters’ like the planets mentioned above. The largest rocky planets, called super-Earths, are about twice as wide as Earth. “By comparison, Wasp-17b has a radius equivalent to 22 times that of Earth,” Ulmer-Moll said.
The most massive planet is about 13 times the mass of Jupiter. These include the gas giant HD 39091 b, which is located 60 light years from Earth, and has a mass about 12.3 times that of Jupiter.
Watch the video “SpaceX Rocket Successfully Launches Jupiter 3 Communications Satellite”
(fyk/fyk)
2024-01-15 14:30:44
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