US, WASHINGTON (ORDO NEWS) — A group of astronomers from the University of Warwick with the help of the TESS telescope discovered one strange exoplanet, which it called the “stone world“.
As the head of the group, David Armstrong, noted, the body is characterized by non-standard indicators of density and size.
The object, called TOI-849b, is smaller than Neptune, but forty times the size of the Earth. The main distinguishing feature of the body is its density, which is comparable to our planet. It follows that the exoplanet is most likely a rocky world, and the largest ever explored.
The object is unique because usually in such a rocky world there is always a dense atmosphere. The body becomes a gas giant like Jupiter. What happened to TOI-849b, no one can say for sure.
One theory says that the gas has left due to the proximity of the planet to the star. The atmosphere was literally torn. According to the second version, the body collided with another huge planet.
On a star, the temperature reaches 1500 ° C due to the fact that the object is incredibly close to its luminary. Under such conditions, most planets explode or evaporate under the influence of powerful radiation.
Perhaps the planet still has the thinnest layer of the atmosphere. If so, then scientists will be able to study its composition only after receiving the next generation of powerful telescopes.
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