We’re all pretty familiar with objects made from styrofoam. Our daily lives intersect with disposable items like coffee cups, insulation, hot and cold coolers and those seemingly millions of little cushioning styrofoam-y “things” that are put into mailing boxes to protect the more valuable contents.
And styrofoam balls are often used in arts and crafts to create models of the planets for hanging mobiles in bedrooms, classrooms and museums around the world.
While scientists investigate a recently discovered styrofoam "puffy planet," styrofoam balls (left: Saurabh R. Patil/Wikimedia Commons) are enormously popular in the creation of the planets of our solar system (right: Marc Dantonio/FX Models) (Photo: Left: Saurbh R Patil/Wikimedia Commons / Right: Marc Dantonio/FX Models)
But, now, who would’ve guessed? Researchers at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, recently discovered a planet approximately 320 light-years from Earth that, according to a university statement, “has the density of styrofoam.”
And the planet could be useful for scientists looking to discover new habitable worlds.
“This ‘puffy planet’ outside our solar system may hold opportunities for testing atmospheres that will be useful when assessing future planets for signs of life,” the statement said.
A global effort of university researchers, observatories and amateur astronomers resulted in an online paper published in The Astronomical Journal. The paper describes initial findings of the planet dubbed KELT-11b, which orbits the bright, subgiant star, KELT-11.
“It is highly inflated, so that while it’s only a fifth as massive as Jupiter, it is nearly 40 percent larger, making it about as dense as styrofoam, with an extraordinarily large atmosphere,” said Lehigh University astronomer and team leader Joshua Pepper.
But it’s not just the styrofoam-like similarity of the planet that intrigues scientists. The star ― KELT-11 ― that KELT-11b orbits plays an important role. The star is so bright, as seen from Earth’s southern hemisphere, that it can shed light ― literally ― on KELT-11b’s atmosphere. The high brightness of the star shining through the atmosphere of the planet allows Earth-based equipment to better observe the planet’s atmosphere.
“That’s a process called transmission spectroscopy, where we measure the atmosphere by measuring the light of the star that gets filtered through the outer layers of the planet’s atmosphere,” Pepper told HuffPost.
“The planet goes in front of the star and a little bit of the light from the star passes through it. The atmosphere imprints on that light certain color patterns that are associated with the material in the atmosphere. Whether there’s oxygen, or carbon dioxide, methane or ammonia, you can actually see those patterns, even if we can’t see the planet itself.”
This, in turn, gives astronomers the ability to develop new tools to help them determine if Earth-like planets are surrounded by atmospheres that might allow life to evolve.
KELT stands for Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope, referring to two small robotic telescopes ― one in Arizona and one in South Africa, both built by Pepper ― that scan the night sky, taking measurements of 5 million stars. Those who monitor the data searching for possible planets are looking for the type of star that becomes dimmer at regular times. This might indicate the presence and movement of a planet crossing the star, producing an eclipse effect.
The KELT-South robotic telescope in South Africa that made the discovery of KELT-11b. (Photo: Photo courtesy of Joshua Pepper)
If researchers want to learn more about KELT-11b, they’d better hurry.
Well, sort of.
The “styrofoam” giant is so close to its parent sun that it takes less than five days to orbit KELT-11. KELT-11 has begun depleting its nuclear fuel as it evolves into a red giant, and at this rate, it will eventually envelop its puffy partner within the next 100 million years.
The Lehigh research team says the KELT discovery will prove to be an important target to learn more about how atmospheres are formed in the search for habitable worlds.
What’s next to be discovered out there in the cosmos? A plastic asteroid?
New Super-Earth Discovered 39 Light-Years From Earth
In April 2017 researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics CfA announced the discovery of a new super-Earth designated LHS 1140b orbiting the habitable zone of a small red dwarf star LHS 1140 about 39 light-years away Its 42 light-years from our sun to the nearest star Proxima Centauri This is an artist impression of the star LHS 1140 and the possible super-Earth planet which shows early indications of habitability
Seven Earth-Sized Planets Around One Star
On Feb. 22, 2017, NASA announced the discovery of seven Earth-sized planets orbiting a single star -- TRAPPIST-1 an ultra-cool dwarf sun in the constellation Aquarius just 39 light-years away This artists concept appeared on the cover of the journal Nature on Feb. 23, 2017.
Closest Exoplanet To Earth -- August 2016
On Aug. 24, 2016, the European Southern Observatory announced the confirmation of the closest exoplanet to Earth. This illustration shows Proxima b, which orbits its parent star Proxima Centauri, the closest sun to Earth's sun. Proxima b lies within its sun's habitable zone, strongly suggesting the planet has liquid water on its surface.
Proxima b Exoplanet Orbits Red Dwarf Star
Artist's impression of exoplanet Proxima b orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri. The double star Alpha Centauri AB also appears in the image between the planet and Proxima Centauri.
Illustration of Proxima b Surface Features
Artist impression shows a view of the surface of planet Proxima b, orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our solar system. The double star Alpha Centauri can also be seen to the upper right of Proxima Centauri.
Super-Earth Exoplanet 55 Cancri e
In March 2016, NASA announced the discovery of a lava-loaded super-Earth called 55 Cancri e -- twice the size of our own planet but eight times as dense. It's so close to its star that a year lasts only 18 hours. Just 40 light-years away, 55 Cancri e may also be tidally locked to its sun the way the moon is to Earth. This artist's impression shows 55 Cancri e orbiting its parent star.
NASA's Kepler Mission Discovers Planet
This Dec. 5, 2011, NASA illustration shows Kepler-22b, a planet known to comfortably circle in the habitable zone of a sun-like star. For the first time, NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed a planet to orbit in a star's habitable zone, the region around a star where liquid water, a requirement for life on Earth, could persist. The planet is 2.4 times the size of Earth, making it the smallest yet found to orbit in the middle of the habitable zone. Clouds could exist in this Earth's atmosphere, as the artist's interpretive illustration depicts.
NASA's Kepler Mission Discovers Planet
In this Dec. 5, 2011, NASA illustration, a diagram compares our own solar system to Kepler-22, a star system containing the first 'habitable zone' planet discovered by NASA's Kepler mission. The habitable zone is the sweet spot around a star where temperatures are right for water to exist in its liquid form. Liquid water is essential for life on Earth. The diagram displays an artist's rendering of the planet comfortably orbiting within the habitable zone, similar to where Earth circles the sun. Kepler-22b has a yearly orbit of 289 days. The planet is the smallest known to orbit in the middle of the habitable zone of a sun-like star and is about 2.4 times the size of Earth.
Extrasolar Planet HD 209458 b, Osiris
Artist's conception released by NASA of extrasolar planet HD 209458 b, also known as Osiris, orbiting its star in the constellation Pegasus, some 150 light-years from Earth's solar system. Scientists have used an infrared spectrum -- the first ever obtained for an extrasolar planet -- to analyze Osiris' atmosphere, which is said to contain dust but no water. The planet's surface temperature is more than 700 Celsius (1330 Fahrenheit).
Planet & Its Parent Star
Picture released on Oct. 4, 2006, by the European Space Agency shows an artist's impression of a Jupiter-sized planet passing in front of its parent star. Such events are called transits. When the planet transits the star, the star's apparent brightness drops by a few percent for a short period. Through this technique, astronomers can use the Hubble Space Telescope to search for planets across the galaxy by measuring periodic changes in a star's luminosity.
Hot Jupiter
Picture released on Oct. 4, 2006, by the European Space Agency shows an artist's impression of a unique type of exoplanet discovered with the Hubble Space Telescope. This image presents a purely speculative view of what a 'hot Jupiter' (word dedicated to planets so close to their stars with such short orbital periods) might look like. A seam of stars at the center of the Milky Way has shown astronomers that an entirely new class of planets closely orbiting distant suns is waiting to be explored. An international team of astronomers, using a camera aboard NASA's Hubble telescope, delved into a zone of the Milky Way known as the 'galactic bulge,' thus called because it is rich in stars and in the gas and dust which go to make up stars and planets. The finding opens up a new area of investigation for space scientists probing extrasolar planets - planets that orbit stars other than our own.
Iceball Exoplanet
This artist's concept depicts an iceball exoplanet designated OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb, discovered with a technique called microlensing.
Affluent Americans may want to double-check how much of their bank deposits are protected by government-backed insurance. The rules governing trust accounts just changed.
Former NBA guard Darius Morris has died at the age of 33. He played for five teams during his four NBA seasons. Morris played college basketball at Michigan.
Jason Fitz, Charles Robinson and Frank Schwab talk about which quarterback rooms concern them and which they find interesting heading into the 2024 NFL season.
Teams have made their big splashes in free agency and made their draft picks, it's time for you to do the same. It's fantasy football mock draft time. Some call this time of year best ball season, others know it's an opportunity to get a leg up on your competition for when you have to draft in August. The staff at Yahoo Fantasy did their first mock draft of the 2024 season to help you with the latter. Matt Harmon and Andy Behrens are here to break it all down by each round and crush some staff members in the process.
It’s key to note that we’re not saying the “best team” or “best roster.” Instead, we’re talking about the best confluence of factors that can outline a path for survival and then success.
With free agency and the draft behind us, what 32 teams look like today will likely be what they look like Week 1 and beyond for the 2024 season. Matt Harmon and Scott Pianowski reveal the post-draft fantasy power rankings. The duo break down the rankings in six tiers: Elite offensive ecosystems, teams on the cusp of being complete mixed bag ecosystems, offensive ecosystems with something to prove, offenses that could go either way, and offenses that are best to stay away from in fantasy.
Jake Mintz & Jordan Shusterman discuss the Padres-Marlins trade that sent Luis Arraez to San Diego, as well as recap all the action from this weekend in baseball and send birthday wishes to hall-of-famer Willie Mays.
In the most anticlimactic way possible, Nintendo on Tuesday confirmed years of rumors: The Nintendo Switch 2 console is on the way. "We will make an announcement about the successor to Nintendo Switch within this fiscal year," wrote Shuntaro Furukawa, the president of Nintendo, on X. Rather, Furukawa wanted to warn users not to expect the actual announcement in next month's Nintendo Direct livestream.
Budgeting apps can help you keep track of your finances, stick to a spending plan and reach your money goals. These are the best budget-tracking apps available right now.
