Scientists get sneak peek at the core of a gas giant

[Mike Wehner]

• The remains of a gas giant were spotted orbiting a nearby star, astronomers reveal.
• The core of the planet is all that remains, but researchers think it was once a massive gaseous planet.
• What lies deep within gas giant planets has long been a mystery for astronomers.

Gas giant planets like Jupiter are incredibly interesting objects. They're also quite mysterious, as nobody really knows what is lurking deep within the miles of gas that makes up their thick atmospheres. For example, it's thought that there's some kind of a rocky core within Jupiter, but beyond that, researchers can't say what features it has, how large it is, or even begin to guess what it looks like.

Our best shot at seeing the core of a gas giant may be to spot a planet's core that has already been burned off by a nearby star. That's exactly what researchers from the University of Warwick have done, and the planet — called TOI 849 b — is a burned-up husk of what may have once been a mighty hot Jupiter.

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Scientists get sneak peek at the core of a gas giant originally appeared on BGR.com on Wed, 1 Jul 2020 at 19:02:12 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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