Home Science Puffy helium planets could explain exoplanet size mystery

Puffy helium planets could explain exoplanet size mystery

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Puffy helium planets could explain exoplanet size mystery

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Helium could make up almost half the mass of the atmosphere of giant exoplanets that have migrated close to their star, explaining why there is a mysterious size gap in the scale of these worlds.

Over 5,200 exoplanets have now been confirmed, and many of these are larger worlds that orbit close to their star, in some cases with orbital periods that last just a few days. However, transit observations first by NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope and now by TESS, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, have found a puzzling dearth of planets with radii between 1.4 and 2.4 times that of Earth. Astronomers call this the ‘radius valley’ and although it seems to be telling us something fundamental about the nature, formation and evolution of planets, scientists have yet to ascertain what that something is.



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