Puffy helium planets could explain exoplanet mystery

[Admin]

Gaseous planets close to their star could see their hydrogen atmospheres evaporate, leaving behind helium that could be detected by the James Webb Space Telescope.

Puffy helium planets could explain exoplanet mystery : Read more

 

[rod]

"Table 1 | All planets in the Mp–Rp–Fp parameter space for which we predict helium enhancement after 10 Gyr of fractionated mass loss"

This table in the cited reference contains 15 exoplanets that look like fun to examine.

Using the exoplanet.eu site I found 1177 listed with radii 1.5 to 2.5 earth radii size. 1333 exoplanets turned up at the NASA exoplanet archive site for these radii criteria. Plenty to look at

 

[rod]

I went and back and reviewed the exoplanet.eu site. radii between 0 and 2.5 earth radii selected 1973 exoplanets. The min radii = 0.0000224 earth radii, max = 2.4996070 earth radii. Mean = 1.6515071 earth radii, 1sigma = 0.4916375 earth radii. Not hard to see where the majority plots for size or radii reported for this SQL query. The semimajor axis min = 0.0034000 au and max = 1.9800000 au, mean = 0.0989760 au, 1sigma = 0.1162790 au. Most of these exoplanets are orbiting much closer to their parent stars and many with larger radii sizes than what is in our solar system from Mercury out to Mars. Where we live today on planet Earth and our solar system configuration (especially the terrestrial planets) is radically different than many exoplanets documented today.