Posted on 03/18/2019 11:59:35 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
To determine exactly why Kepler-107c is so dense, first the researchers considered what they already knew. Previous research has shown that intense stellar radiation can strip the atmosphere from a planet that sits too near its host star. But if the innermost planet lost its lighter atmospheric elements, it should be more dense than its twin, not less. According to the study, this would "make the more-irradiated and less-massive planet Kepler-107b denser than Kepler-107c," which is clearly not the case.
However, there is another way that a planet can lose a lot of mass: by getting smacked with another planet. And this is exactly what the researchers think happened to Kepler-107c.
The researchers argue that the denser planet, Kepler-107c, likely experienced a massive collision with a third, unknown planet at some point in its past. Such a gigantic impact, the study says, would have stripped the lighter silicate mantle from Kepler-107c, leaving behind an extremely dense, iron-rich core. According to the study, Kepler-107c could be as much as 70 percent iron.
Because the mass and radius of Kepler-107c matches what would be expected from a giant planetary impact, the researchers are fairly confident that the collisional scenario they've outlined in their paper is accurate; however, they still need to confirm their hypothesis. If proven correct, this new find would become the first-ever evidence of a planetary collision outside our solar system.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.discovermagazine.com ...
For use on earth, I agree.
For use in space, the materials have the huge advantage of already being there.
This particular planet would have enormous gravity, but iron would not be the prize. Heavier elements should also be present -- gold, uranium, platinum, etc.
I’m reminded of the TIME LIFE book EARLY MAN from the 1960s. First chapter, they show the many layers in the earth, and poo-poo the Bible believers saying the earth, before man, went through many catastrophies, creating the layers.
Then the scientists claimed the layers were put down naturally, and the word Naturalism was coined.
You believed in Naturalism OR ELSE you would be given a poor grade in science class.
Then came the astronomy findings of light “Phase shifts” of galaxies (far far away) giving rise to a new idea on how the world...The Big Bang, CATASTROPHISM, and a violent earth formed the layers!
Natural Catastrophism forming the earth is now “IN’.
Now where have I heard that word before...back when it was a “bad” word in science class...
Maybe, but I think Tabby's Star is a just a giant litterbox that has been constructed and used by our future extraterrestrial cat overlords.
I've often considered that he should have titled it "Worlds In Rendezvous".
1000^3... yeah, time to build Ringworld.
What’s the total mass of iron?
Then work backwards to get the mass of hydrogen which must’ve fused to create it; then can we get an estimate of the mass of the star which originally created that planet?
Where's Nicholas van Rijn?
So Velikovsky was right, just had the wrong solar system.
:^) Different gig, right solar system.
I read the Wiki summary. That's quite a story.
The author, Larry Niven, liked the idea so much he wrote EIGHT more books about it!
I think I only read the first two, "Ringworld" and "Ringworld Engineers". The second one was in part inspired by an anecdote Niven cited, some engineering convention, a bunch of engineers started chanting, "the Ringworld is Unstable". :^) Geeks. The rest of the novels may be related the Kzin, the ferocious sentient (well, half-sentient) species of cats. His original ringworld concept grew out of the notion of Dyson's Sphere.
Whoa, that's a pretty good Wikipedia page! I've rarely read fiction since, well, since reading those first two Ringworld novels (I read the first one in 1984, borrowing it from a brother-in-law). If you opt to read 'em, you're in for a treat, they're really quite funny, and I have fond memories of the quite imaginary Teela Brown, and "the luck of Teela Brown!" Niven had a knack for making the ridiculous made-up crap common to sci-fi seem plausible via misdirection and humor.
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