Swiss researchers solve the mystery of density differences in planets
Published: Thursday, Jun 27th 2024, 10:20
Updated At: Friday, Jun 28th 2024, 01:59
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Swiss scientists have solved a mystery about differences in the density of certain planets. There are indeed denser and less dense sub-Neptunes, as they showed in a new study. Until now, it was thought possible that these differences were due to measurement errors.
The researchers from the Universities of Geneva and Bern have now shown in their study that different formation processes are responsible for the different densities, as the two universities announced on Thursday.
Sub-Neptunes are planets that are smaller than Neptune but larger than the Earth. Among the exoplanets, i.e. the planets outside our solar system, in our galaxy, they are the most common planet types.
Despite their widespread distribution, calculating the density of these planets posed a major puzzle for scientists: if the density was measured using the so-called TTV (transit timing variation) method, it was lower than if it was measured using the radial velocity method.
Both measurement methods are correct
The study, which was published in the journal "Astronomy & Astrophysics", showed that both of these measurement methods are correct. Both of these measurement methods have very specific applications: The TTV method is generally used for so-called resonant sub-Neptunes, the radial velocity method for the rest.
As the researchers have now shown using statistical tests, the density of sub-neptunes in resonant systems is lower than that of sub-neptunes in non-resonant systems. Regardless of which method was used to determine their mass.
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