4 ms·
Based on those observations, the exoplanet appears to be about 70% larger than Earth with just five times its mass. That means it’s less dense than Earth Seems
by causi 4y ago
Based on those observations, the exoplanet appears to be about 70% larger than Earth with just five times its mass. That means it’s less dense than Earth
Seems like a rather large leap to go from that to "it's a water world", at least in these days where we get a "this new exoplanet may be covered in water!" headline every few months.
- winReInstall 4y agoSo its a droplet, were a small moony core tumbles around in the crushing depths?
- dougmwne 4y agoSomeone’s would have to do the math on the core pressure, but likely there would be an ice mantle around a rocky core and possibly a supercritical layer. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_diagram#/media/File%3APhase_diagram_of_water_simplified.svg https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_diagram#/media/File%3A...
- winReInstall 4y agoImagine lifing on such a world. Ice plates are the only spot to create long lasting structures. Iron is more worth then gold. Meteorites create food frenzies and scavanger hunts. Electrolysis of metals from water is the only way to create a industrial base.
- LatteLazy 4y ago1.7^3= 4.913. So even if 1.7x large just means radius, if it has 5x the mass that would still make it MORE dense than earth right?
- svachalek 4y agoI guess that "about" is doing a lot of work here. Like maybe it's 1.74^3.
- dougmwne 4y agoNot necessarily. We understand lots of the underlying orbital physics and know from stellar lifecycles how much of each element to expect. From there you can run the math on radius and density and only be left with so many possibilities of what the thing is made of. It’s not certainly water, just one of the likely possibilities. An interesting hypothesis that could actually be tested by atmospheric spectroscopy using Webb.