The “ice giant” planets Neptune and Uranus are much less dense than rocky, terrestrial planets such as Venus and Earth.
The “ice giant” planets Neptune and Uranus are much less dense than rocky, terrestrial planets such as Venus and Earth. Beyond our solar system, many other Neptune-sized planets, orbiting distant stars, appear to be similarly low in density.
Now, a new planet discovered by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, TESS, seems to buck this trend. The planet, named TOI-849 b, is the 749th “TESS Object of Interest” identified to date. Scientists spotted the planet circling a star about 750 light years away every 18 hours, and estimate it is about 3.5 times larger than Earth, making it a Neptune-sized planet. Surprisingly, this far-flung Neptune appears to be 40 times more massive than Earth and just as dense.
TOI-849 b is the most massive Neptune-sized planet discovered to date, and the first to have a density that is comparable to Earth.
Read more at: Massachusetts Institutute of Technology
