It is well known that the four giant gaseous planets in the solar system – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune – all have planetary rings. So will these extremely dense alien planets called hyperswell marshmallows have planetary rings?
In front of a large bright white, yellow ball of light there is a small ellipse, which is a planet with planetary rings.
Artistic idea: A superswollen alien planet with planetary rings passes in front of the stars of its galaxy.
Credit: Robin Dienel/Carnegie Science
To date, these planets, called hyperswell planets or marshmallow planets, are among the strangest alien planets discovered during planetary exploration. They seem to have a very small density, even smaller than Saturn in the solar system, which for a long time was complained that if you could find an ocean large enough to hold it, it would be light enough to float on it. Researchers at the Carnegie Institution in Washington have a new idea of these alien worlds. On March 2, 2020, they announced that these hyperflated planets may not be expanding as they first thought. What if there is any other explanation? Principal investigator Anthony Piro made the following statement:
We're thinking, what if these planets aren't as fluffy as marshmallows at all? What if these super-inflated planets look so big because they are surrounded by planetary rings?
The joint peer-reviewed paper was published in the Journal of Astronomy on February 28.
Hyperswellic or marshmallow planets are characterized by less massive masses as opposed to their enormous radii. They are very dense. Not long ago, when they were first discovered, these apparent differences from the planets in the solar system were surprising.
There is a sun-like star and other stars in the chart, and next to them are three planets, one red, one golden, and one blue.
The three giant planets were discovered in 2012 and defined as hyperswellic objects in 2014, orbiting Puller-51, and this image is the best example of their artistic conception. They are about 2600 light-years away from Earth.
Image source: NASA/ESA/L. Hustak/J. Olmsted/D. Player/F. Summers (STScI)/Hubblesite.
Interestingly, these hyperswelling planets, at least some of them, may be more like Saturn or other giant planets in the solar system than our first impression: marshmallows. It is well known that the four giant gaseous planets in the solar system – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune – all have planetary rings. So will these ultra-dense, ultra-inflated planets have planetary rings?
Alien planets are hard to spot, and it's too hard to see them in the bright light of distant stars, not to mention the planetary rings next to them. The researchers wondered if alien astronauts on distant exoplanets could see our solar system and Saturn's rings. Or is it so far away that they would mistake Saturn for an oversized planet? According to Caltech Shreyas Vissapragada: "We're wondering, if you look at the solar system from another distant world, would you recognize Saturn as a planet with rings, or would it seem like an expanding planet to an alien astronaut?"
A giant celestial object in the shadows surrounded by planetary rings on a black background.
Cassini's rings from an aerial perspective observed by Cassini on February 3, 2017. Will these marshmallow alien planets have similar planetary rings?
Source: NASA/Caltech-Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Space Science/NASA Science
In considering this question holistically, the researchers considered how a giant planet with rings would appear when it moved in front of its star, and what kind of material might be present in planetary rings around hyperswelled planets. They concluded that planetary rings could explain some of the superstension planet discoveries, but most likely not all of them. According to Pirao, these planets orbit very close to their host star, which means that the planetary rings are most likely rocky rather than icy. But the radius of a rocky planetary ring can only be that large, unless the rock is loose and porous, so not every hyperswelling planet meets these restrictions.
Researchers have discovered three excellent candidate super-expanding planets with planetary rings: Kepler-87c, Kepler-177c and HIP 41378f. These three planets were recently observed by Hubble and are orbiting the Sun-like star Kepler–51, which is about 2600 light-years away. They are about the same size as Jupiter, but only have 1% mass. Their atmospheres consist of the light gas hydrogen helium, which is covered by a thick layer of methane gas.
The man standing in front of the tree laughing
Anthony Piro of the Carnegie Institute of Science, the leader of this new study.
Source: Carnegie Science Center
The planets appear to be rapidly shrinking, spewing hundreds of millions of tons of material into the universe every second, suggesting that marshmallow morphology may be just a brief link in their evolution. They may eventually look more like a miniature version of Neptune.
Determining whether these planets really have planetary rings will require NASA's James Weber Space Telescope, a follow-up device that is scheduled to launch in 2021. If the plan comes to fruition, it will help scientists study more about this type of world form and how they differ from true hyperswelling planets, other giant exoplanets, and giant planets within the solar system.
Final conclusion: A new study suggests that marshmallow alien planets may not be expanding as we first thought, but instead may have planetary rings like Saturn.
By Paul Scott Anderson
MY: D
If there is any infringement of the relevant content, please contact the author to delete it after the work is published
Please also obtain authorization to reprint, and pay attention to maintaining completeness and indicating source