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Planet 12.8 Times Larger Than Jupiter
Simulations of young stellar systems suggest that planets embedded in a circumstellar disk can produce many distinctive structures, including rings, gaps and spiral arms. This video compares computer simulations of hypothetical systems to the Subaru image of SAO 206462. Astronomers using infrared data from the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii have discovered a "super-Jupiter" around the bright star Kappa Andromedae, which now holds the record for the most massive star known to host a directly imaged planet or lightweight brown dwarf companion. Designated Kappa Andromedae b (Kappa And b, for short), the new object has a mass about 12.8 times greater than Jupiter #39;s. This places it teetering on the dividing line that separates the most massive planets from the lowest-mass brown dwarfs. That ambiguity is one of the object #39;s charms, say researchers, who call it a super-Jupiter to embrace both possibilities. The "super-Jupiter" Kappa Andromedae b, shown here in an artist #39;s rendering, circles its star at nearly twice the distance that Neptune orbits the sun. With a mass about 13 times Jupiter #39;s, the object glows with a reddish color. Credit: NASA #39;s Goddard Space Flight Center/S. Wiessinger rsaquo; Larger image "According to conventional models of planetary formation, Kappa And b falls just shy of being able to generate energy by fusion, at which point it would be considered a brown dwarf rather than a planet," said Michael McElwain, a member of the discovery team at NASA #39;s Goddard Space ...From:Alton ParrishViews:3 0ratingsTime:01:33More inScience Technology

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Planet 12.8 Times Larger Than Jupiter - Video