Are you aware that NASA scientists have discovered a group of planets that appear to be getting smaller due to radiation from an unexplained source?
Extraordinary worlds exist in the universe, including gas behemoths, rocky globes, and even “super-puffs” with the density of cotton candy.
However, there seems to be a strange pattern affecting planets about 1.5 to two times the width of Earth.
Scientists Are Puzzled by the Mysterious Gap in Planets
Among the over 5,000 exoplanets identified by NASA, there is an absence of planets in that size range, indicating that something is preventing planets from reaching or remaining at that size.”Jessie Christiansen”
According to Jessie Christiansen, a research scientist at Caltech and science lead for the NASA Exoplanet Archive.
Research indicates that these shrinking worlds could be a result of radiation emitted from the planets’ cores.
A recent study published in The Astronomical Journal may address the mystery of the missing exoplanets.
Factors Causing Planets to Lose Their Atmospheres
It is theorized that diminishing exoplanets lack the mass to maintain their atmospheres.
Despite this, the specific mechanism causing atmosphere loss remains unclear.
The new study favors “core-powered mass loss,” which suggests a planet’s core radiates, pushing its atmosphere away over time.
Another hypothesis known as photoevaporation alleges that a planet’s atmosphere dissolves due to its host star’s radiation. Scientists, however, believe that photoevaporation occurs much earlier than core-powered mass loss.
In order to analyze these hypotheses, scientists examined data from NASA’s retired Kepler Space Telescope and observed star clusters over 100 million years old. The results suggested that core-powered mass loss is a more possible cause of atmosphere loss.
Despite these findings, the scientific community continues to work at understanding the perplexing mystery.
For further details, refer to the original article by Business Insider.
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