A newly discovered planet, located 560 light years from Earth, has been given the nickname “Godzilla” due to its enormous size. The planet, named Kepler-10c, is 17 times larger than Earth and has been dubbed a “mega-Earth.”
Astronomers had previously believed that a planet of this size would absorb hydrogen gas as it developed and transform into a gaseous “mini-Neptune,” making it unlikely that such a world could exist. However, the discovery of Kepler-10c challenges these assumptions and opens up the possibility of discovering rocky planets that could support life.
The discovery of this “mega-Earth” planet offers a new perspective on the formation and evolution of planets, and could help us understand the diversity of planets in our universe. Further research into the properties and composition of Kepler-10c may provide valuable insights into the conditions necessary for the development and maintenance of life on other planets.
A new kind of “Godzilla” planet called a mega-Earth has been discovered in a distant star system. The majority of the foreground is taken up by a depiction of the recently discovered planet. Its sibling, the nearby world Kepler-10, may be visible in the background.To their amazement, Kepler-10c has maintained stability despite being more than twice as old as the Earth.The discovery demonstrates that possibly habitable rocky planets may be much more common and even very old than previously believed. The Kepler-10 star system, which has an estimated age of 11 billion years, emerged fewer than three billion years after the universe originally came into existence.
Earth is just about 4.5 billion years old, in contrast.
This is Godzilla for Earth. Yet, unlike the monster from the moon, Kepler-10c has positive implications for life, according to Dr. Dimitar Sasselo of the Harrard S. Mitchell Center for Astrophysics (CFA).
The Kepler-10c data indicate that rocky planets may have formed sooner than previously thought. If you can make rocks, you can make life.
Given that Kepler-10c is too close to its parent star, life is unlikely to exist there. The gravity there is roughly twice as great as on Earth.
Kepler-10b, a scorching “lava world” that is three times heavier than Earth, orbits its sun-like parent star, Draco, in the constellation every 20 hours, making it one of the star’s peculiar neighbors. The planet was first discovered by NASA’s Kepler spacecraft, which searches for stars that dim when a planet passes in front of them in order to locate planets.
Astronomers can determine the physical size of the planet by measuring the dimming of the star as the planet passes in front of it. Previously, it was believed that Kepler-10c, a planet with a diameter more than twice that of Earth, belonged to the class of “mini-Neptune” planets, which have icy cores encased in dense gaseous envelopes.
The discovery of Kepler-10b challenges this assumption and suggests that there may be more types of planets than previously thought. The study of planets like Kepler-10b can provide valuable insights into the formation and evolution of planets, as well as the potential for the development and maintenance of life on other planets.
The Italian Galileo National Telescope in the Canary Islands, however, has revealed that it is substantially heavier than expected, measuring 17 times the mass of the Earth.
This proved that it must be made of heavy rocks, just like the Earth.
Astronomer Dr. Xaier Dumusque of the Harard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the study’s primary investigator, said, “We were genuinely astonished when we understood what we had uncoered.”
The atmosphere of Kepler-10c did not degrade over time, suggesting that it formed in its current state and was able to hold onto its atmosphere due to its large size. CFA astronomer Lars Buchhave suggests that there is a connection between a planet’s period, or the amount of time it takes to complete an orbit around its star, and its transition from a rocky to a gaseous state.
Buchhave also suggests that if old stars can host rocky planets like Earth, then we have a better chance of finding potentially habitable worlds in our cosmic neighborhood. The discovery of planets like Kepler-10c, which challenge our assumptions about the formation and evolution of planets, can provide valuable insights into the diversity of planets in our universe and their potential for supporting life.
Kepler, a NASA spacecraft that searches for planets using the transit method by scanning for stars that dim when a planet passes in front of them, first discovered Kepler- 10c (artist’s impression displayed). Scientists can determine the physical size of the planet by measuring the dilation.
