Not only THAT-
Posted on 12/06/2013 8:16:03 PM PST by NYer
An enormous alien planet — one that is 11 times more massive than Jupiter — was discovered in the most distant orbit yet found around a single parent star.
The newfound exoplanet, dubbed HD 106906 b, dwarfs any planetary body in the solar system, and circles its star at a distance that is 650 times the average distance between the Earth and the sun. The existence of such a massive and distantly orbiting planet raises new questions about how these bizarre worlds are formed, the researchers said.
"This system is especially fascinating because no model of either planet or star formation fully explains what we see," study lead researcher Vanessa Bailey, a fifth-year graduate student in the University of Arizona's department of astronomy, said in a statement. [The Strangest Alien Planets (Gallery)]
In the most commonly accepted theories of planet formation, it is thought that planets that orbit close to their parent star, such as Earth, began as small, asteroid-type bodies that clumped together in the primordial disk of gas and dust around the burgeoning star. Yet, this process operates too slowly to explain how giant planets form far away from their star, the researcher said.
'The planet is only 13 million years old, and is still glowing from the heat of its formation.'
- Researchers with the University of Arizona's department of astronomy
Alternative hypotheses have suggested that distant giant planets may form in ways similar to mini binary star systems, Bailey said.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
“God made cool stuff.”
Indeed. And my guess is the best is yet to come.
How much bigger is it than Uranus?
The western world had a little trouble at first with the Arabic numeral zero.
The concept of infinity is problematic, yeah, but send me a bank routing number and I can explain it all.
Oh what the hey ... you know ‘big’ right? Well, when you get to the edge of big, you just keep on going. No charge.
I’m still trying to deal with the fact that it’s bigger than Jupiter.
This throws out all the current theories about how solar systems formed billions of years ago.
The more knowledge we gain of the universe through new technology the more we realize there are some things we really don’t have figured out.
“Why didn’t this thing ignite into a star?”
It did, we are just looking at a red dwarf inside a Dyson sphere.
Freegards
Name it moochelle
According to http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/KellyMaurelus.shtml, the mass needed to ignite as a star is around 0.05 - 0.10 solar masses. Jupiter is about 0.001 solar masses, so even that huge planet would only be 0.011 solar masses.
Sorry had to do it !
“How much bigger is it than Uranus?”
Off hand I’d say it depends on your hemmeriodous
I bet gravity sucks big time on that planet.
Exactly, I had heard that if Jupiter was 10 times bigger, it would turn into a star. And this one goes to 11, which is one louder....
I wonder how Hillary Clinton would weigh on this newly found planet - if would ever issue her a visa.
No kindling?
I was going to ad, “and He still does” . . . .
“trying to lose weight.”
A 4-ounce serving would be very small.
If you could lift your fork.
It’s not massive enough to ignite. 65 Jupiter masses is the threshold. This is barely enough to be a brown dwarf. It’s even below the 13 Jupiter mass threshold to burn deuterium.
Someone wisely posted “No Smoking” signs.
Sooner or later, though, someone will try to fry a turkey and that will be all she wrote.
Not only THAT-
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.