'Cloud Planet' Revealed Between Cygnus Constellation, Could Be Habitable

(NLDO) - Kepler-51 belongs to the category of giant worlds known by fairy-tale names such as "cotton candy planet" or "cloud planet".

A research team led by Dr. Jessica Libby-Roberts from Pennsylvania State University (USA) has identified a completely new planet around the star Kepler-51 located 2,615 km away from us in the constellation Cygnus.

Graphic depicting the Kepler-51 system consisting of four cloud planets - Photo: NASA

Kepler-51 has been observed by NASA's Kepler space telescope for a long time and has discovered three large planets orbiting it.

They are Kepler-51b, Kepler-51c and Kepler-51d, all of which are super-puff planets about the size of Saturn.

Hyperinflated planets are large worlds with very low mass and density. They consist of a small rocky core and an extremely dense atmosphere, mostly hydrogen and helium.

Because of this, they are sometimes nicknamed "cloud planets" or "cotton candy planets".

Now, scientists have decided to test the system again, comparing old Kepler data with observations from the more advanced James Webb telescope as well as several ground-based observatories.

A fourth planet, Kepler-51e, has been discovered, and it's also a cloud giant.

But a clearer “portrait” of this fourth planet remains unclear. The data points to two different types of planets that Kepler-51e could belong to.

One is a planet about the size of Saturn and orbits its parent star in 264 Earth days.

The second is a planet that is about the size of Jupiter or so and orbits in a super-wide orbit, making a year there equal to 10 years on Earth.

However, the first hypothesis has more evidence to support it. And if it is correct, Kepler-51e has an orbit only slightly larger than Venus and lies well within the habitable zone of the star system.

Therefore, scientists said they will continue to find ways to observe it more clearly, as well as find more similar planets in space, places that may harbor alien life that humanity has always wanted to find.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/hanh-tinh-may-lo-dien-giua-chom-thien-nga-co-the-song-duoc-196241208101002234.htm