May 20th , 2024
Team LTG
Located about 1,200 light-years away, it's a gas giant exoplanet orbiting a star similar to our sun.
WASP-193b is 1.5 times the size of Jupiter but only has a tenth of its mass, making it incredibly low in density.
Its density is less than 0.1 g/cm³, comparable to the sugary confection, hence the nickname.
This exoplanet boasts a massive, inflated atmosphere extending thousands of miles farther than Jupiter's.
Hubble Space Telescope revealed their atmospheres may be hazy and primarily composed of hydrogen and helium, making them even more mysterious.
The existence of such low-density planets challenges our existing models of planet formation.
Scientists believe they are young planets still evolving, and may eventually shrink and become denser.
Could there be other "cotton candy" planets out there? This discovery opens up new possibilities in the search for exoplanets.