Kepler-88 has a new king! Planet three-times Jupiter's mass discovered in system

"Orbiting its sun-like star every four days, the giant could play a role in sparking life on rocky worlds." The beginning of the report here is incorrect, it is about 4 years orbital period as correctly reported shortly after in the article. Kepler-88 is a star system with multiple giant planets, others are known now too. Kepler-88 is considered to be about 0.985 solar masses, https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020AJ....159..242W/abstract, arxiv report attached. 88 d is about 2.4 AU from the star with large eccentric orbit, 0.41. Exoplanet systems like this are a good example of what Sky & Telescope said recently about other planets and solar systems.

"...But we now know that a model based only on our solar system is misleading. From systems where planets orbit two stars instead of just one (Kepler-16b) to those with Jupiter-mass planets on orbits of just a few days (Kepler-435b), our observations since the first exoplanet discoveries in the mid-1990s have continuously surprised us with a puzzling diversity of system architectures. Our solar system is not the blueprint we once assumed it was.", Revising the Story of Planet Formation, Sky & Telescope 139(5):34-40, 2020.

Just think if this multiple giant planet configuration *evolved* here. There would likely be no Earth :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lovethrust
Apr 7, 2020
162
29
1,610
Visit site
"Orbiting its sun-like star every four days, the giant could play a role in sparking life on rocky worlds." The beginning of the report here is incorrect, it is about 4 years orbital period as correctly reported shortly after in the article. Kepler-88 is a star system with multiple giant planets, others are known now too. Kepler-88 is considered to be about 0.985 solar masses, https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020AJ....159..242W/abstract, arxiv report attached. 88 d is about 2.4 AU from the star with large eccentric orbit, 0.41. Exoplanet systems like this are a good example of what Sky & Telescope said recently about other planets and solar systems.

"...But we now know that a model based only on our solar system is misleading. From systems where planets orbit two stars instead of just one (Kepler-16b) to those with Jupiter-mass planets on orbits of just a few days (Kepler-435b), our observations since the first exoplanet discoveries in the mid-1990s have continuously surprised us with a puzzling diversity of system architectures. Our solar system is not the blueprint we once assumed it was.", Revising the Story of Planet Formation, Sky & Telescope 139(5):34-40, 2020.

Just think if this multiple giant planet configuration *evolved* here. There would likely be no Earth :)
Of course we could then be floating intelligent gasbags wondering if those little rockballs could possibly host life!