Marshmallow: the new ‘fluffy’ exoplanet
Called TOI-3757b, it is located about 580 light-years from Earth and is the lowest density planet detected around a red dwarf star.
A new exoplanet has been discovered. It is called TOI-3757b, although the name it has been given is Marshmallow, a Jupiter-like planet orbiting a cool red dwarf star.
The moniker is what it says on the tin, This new planet has the lowest density ever detected around a red dwarf star. It is believed to have an average density similar to that of a marshmallow as its mass has been calculated to be about 17 grams per cubic feet or 0.27 grams per cubic centimeter.
TOI-3757b is located in the constellation Auriga, also known as ‘the Piglet’.
The research that discovered it has been published in The Astrophysical Journal, by scientist Shubham Kanodia, a researcher at the Carnegie Institution for Science Earth and Planets Laboratory in the United States.
“Giant planets around red dwarf stars have traditionally been thought to be hard to form,” said Kanodia.
“Potential future observations of the atmosphere of this planet using NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope could help shed light on its puffy nature,” said Jessica Libby-Roberts, a postdoctoral researcher at Pennsylvania State University and the paper’s second author.
It was discovered by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, which searched for as much detail as possible through the 3.5-metre WIYN Telescope at the Kitt National Observatory in Arizona. This new gas giant planet takes around three and a half days to complete its orbit around its host star.