(CBS NEWS) – Researchers discovered a huge planet 1,200 light years from Earth with a density comparable to that of cotton candy, scientists said Monday. WASP-193b is an exoplanet, which means it’s located outside of our solar system, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Astronomy. It’s 50% larger than Jupiter — the largest planet in our solar system — but seven times less massive because of its extraordinarily low density.
“The planet is so light that it’s difficult to think of an analogous, solid-state material,” Julien de Wit, MIT professor and study co-author, said in a news release. “The reason why it’s close to cotton candy is because both are pretty much air. The planet is basically super fluffy.”
The extremely low density makes WASP-193b an anomaly among the more than 5,000 exoplanets scientists have discovered to date, researchers said. The only planet scientists have found that is less dense thank WASP-193b is Kepler-51d, a Neptune-like planet that was discovered a decade ago.
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