A super-Jupiter is a gas giant exoplanet that is more massive than the planet
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandt ...
. For example,
companions at the planet–
brown dwarf
Brown dwarfs (also called failed stars) are substellar objects that are not massive enough to sustain nuclear fusion of ordinary hydrogen (hydrogen-1, 1H) into helium in their cores, unlike a main sequence, main-sequence star. Instead, they have ...
borderline have been called super-Jupiters, such as around the star
Kappa Andromedae.
By 2011 there were 180 known super-Jupiters, some
hot, some cold.
Even though they are more massive than Jupiter, they remain about the same size as Jupiter up to 80 Jupiter masses.
[ This means that their surface gravity and density go up proportionally to their mass.][ The increased mass compresses the planet due to gravity, thus keeping it from being larger.][ In comparison, planets somewhat lighter than Jupiter can be larger, so-called " puffy planets" (gas giants with a large diameter but low density).][
CoRoT-3b, with a mass around 22 Jupiter masses,]osmium
Osmium (from Greek grc, ὀσμή, osme, smell, label=none) is a chemical element with the symbol Os and atomic number 76. It is a hard, brittle, bluish-white transition metal in the platinum group that is found as a trace element in alloys, mos ...
(22.6 g/cm3), the densest natural element under standard conditions. Extreme compression of matter inside it causes the high density, because it is likely composed mainly of hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic ...
. The surface gravity
The surface gravity, ''g'', of an astronomical object is the gravitational acceleration experienced at its surface at the equator, including the effects of rotation. The surface gravity may be thought of as the acceleration due to gravity experien ...
is also high, over 50 times that of Earth.[ orbiting it about 1.8 times the distance at which ]Neptune
Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun and the farthest known planet in the Solar System. It is the fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 time ...
orbits the Sun.
See also
* Extrasolar planet
An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...
* Ice giant
An ice giant is a giant planet composed mainly of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium, such as oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur. There are two ice giants in the Solar System: Uranus and Neptune.
In astrophysics and planetary science th ...
* Kepler-1704b
Kepler-1704b is a super-Jupiter on a highly eccentric orbit around the star Kepler-1704. It has a mass of 4.51 . The planet's distance from its star varies from 0.16 to 3.9 AU. It is a failed hot Jupiter, been scattered from its birth orbit to o ...
* List of planet types
* Red dwarf
''Red Dwarf'' is a British science fiction comedy franchise created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, which primarily consists of a television sitcom that aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999, and on Dave (TV channel), Dave since 2009, gaining a ...
* Super-Earth
A super-Earth is an extrasolar planet with a mass higher than Earth's, but substantially below those of the Solar System's ice giants, Uranus and Neptune, which are 14.5 and 17 times Earth's, respectively.
The term "super-Earth" refers only to ...
References
External links
Brown dwarfs: Failed stars, super Jupiters (2008)
*
Types of planet
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