CoRoT-20b is a new planet that baffles astronomers by defying current theories for how planets form. It orbits close to a sunlike star, according to National Geographic.
The planet, which is four-fifths the size of Jupiter, was discovered 4,000 light-years away, and reported by a French site MaxiSciences. CoRoT-20b is thought to be a gas giant and, despite its relatively small size, it has four times Jupiter’s mass, making it one of the densest known planets.
If the new dense planet has the same structure as a traditional gas giant — a solid core surrounded by a gassy atmosphere — the planet’s core would make up 50% to 77% of its total mass. Jupiter’s core, on the other hand, represents only 15% of its own mass.
The host star CoRoT 20 has an apparent magnitude of 14.7, with an absolute magnitude of 4.21. It is 1.14 times more massive and 0.92 times bigger than our sun. The surface temperature is 5880 K which means its spectral type is G2V. In this planetary system, the extrasolar planet CoRoT 20 b orbits around the host star at an orbital distance of 0.0902.
Journal Articles
1.) Transiting exoplanets from the CoRoT space mission XX. CoRoT-20b: A very high density, high eccentricity transiting giant planet
https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2012/02/aa17681-11/aa17681-11.html
WEB Articles
1.) CoRoT-20b: new planet found
https://www.pri.org/stories/2012-02-24/corot-20b-new-planet-found
