Non-gas giant has 73 times Earth’s mass, bewildering its discoverers

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From Ars Technica:
"Today, a large international team of researchers is announcing the discovery of something our models can't explain. It's roughly Neptune's size but four times more massive. Its density—well above that of iron—is compatible with either the entire planet being almost entirely solid or it having an ocean deep enough to drown entire planets. While the people who discovered it offer a couple of theories for its formation, neither is especially likely."

https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/08 ... ve-formed/

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[Ylem]

That's pretty fascinating Stephen, sounds like something the Starship Enterprise would have discovered.

[helicon]

A super earth times 500, perhaps....thanks stephen

[Bigzmey]

Neat!

[helicon]

I just had a thought. More density than iron. It could be a planet of gold!

[JayTee]

The first thing that came to my mind is, is this a captured hulk of a dead star?

[messier 111]

fine article , thx .

[AntennaGuy]

Hmm. I'm going to guess (and yes, it's just a wild guess) that future and more detailed astronomical observations will lead researchers to revise downward these estimates of the average mass density of this planet. And... that will be enough of my Nostradamusing today.