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File:Brown Dwarf HD 29587 B.png

An artistic concept of HD 29587 B a brown dwarf orbiting the star HD 29587, estimated to be about 55 Jupiter masses.

A super-Jupiter is an astronomical object that's more massive than the planet Jupiter. For example, companions at the planet–brown dwarf borderline have been called super-Jupiters, such as around the star Kappa Andromedae.[1]

By 2011 there were 180 known super-Jupiters, some hot, some cold.[2] Even though they weigh more than Jupiter, they remain about the same size as Jupiter up to 80 Jupiter masses.[2] This means that their surface gravity and density goes up proportionally with their mass.[2] The increased mass compresses the planet due to gravity, thus keeping it from being larger.[2] In comparison, somewhat lighter planets than Jupiter can be larger, so-called "puffy planets" (gas giants with a large diameter but low density).[3] An example of this may be the exoplanet HAT-P-1b with about half the mass of Jupiter but about 1.38 times larger diameter.[3]

Corot-3b, with a mass around 22 Jupiter masses,[4] is predicted to have an average density of 26.4 g/cm3, greater than osmium (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.[5] The surface gravity is also high, over 50 times that of Earth.[4]

In 2012, the super-Jupiter Kappa Andromedae b was imaged around the star Kappa Andromedae,[1] orbiting it about 1.8 times the distance at which Neptune orbits the Sun.[6]

See also[]

  • Ice giant
  • Super-Earth
  • Extrasolar planet
  • Red dwarf
  • List of planet types

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Astronomers Directly Image Massive Star's 'Super-Jupiter'. NASA (19 November 2012). Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 (2012) Exoplanets: Finding, Exploring, and Understanding Alien Worlds, 167–168. ISBN 9781461406440. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 Template:Cite news
  4. 4.0 4.1 Deleuil, M. (2008). Transiting exoplanets from the CoRoT space mission. VI. CoRoT-Exo-3b: the first secure inhabitant of the brown-dwarf desert. Astronomy and Astrophysics 491 (3): 889–897.
  5. (2003). Evolutionary models for cool brown dwarfs and extrasolar giant planets. The case of HD 209458. Astronomy and Astrophysics 402 (2): 701–712.
  6. Image of the "super-Jupiter" Kappa Andromedae b. NASA/JPL (19 November 2012). Retrieved 26 June 2013.

Further reading[]

Template:Exoplanet

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