Super-Jupiter

File:Artist's View of a Super-Jupiter around a Brown Dwarf (2M1207).tif

Artist's impression of 2M1207b

A super-Jupiter is a gas giant exoplanet that is 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.

Makeup

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). 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.

CoRoT-3b

CoRoT-3b, with a mass around 22 Jupiter masses, 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. The surface gravity is also high, over 50 times that of Earth.

Kappa Andromedae b

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

See also

• Extrasolar planet
• Ice giant
• Kepler-1704b
• List of planet types
• Red dwarf
• Sub-brown dwarf
• Super-Earth
• Red Hypergiant

External links

• Brown dwarfs: Failed stars, super Jupiters (2008)