In a groundbreaking discovery, a team of scientists has identified the largest planet known to exist in the universe. The planet, named OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb, is about 13 times more massive than Jupiter, the largest planet in our Solar System, and orbits a star that is about 22,000 light-years away from Earth. This finding challenges our current understanding of how planets form and raises new questions about the diversity and distribution of planetary systems in the cosmos.
Here are the top ten largest planets in the universe, based on their mass and radius:
- OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb: 13.4 Jupiter masses, 1.11 Jupiter radii
- TrES-4b: 8.3 Jupiter masses, 1.8 Jupiter radii
- WASP-17b: 7.5 Jupiter masses, 1.99 Jupiter radii
- WASP-12b: 6.2 Jupiter masses, 1.79 Jupiter radii
- HAT-P-1b: 5.5 Jupiter masses, 1.38 Jupiter radii
- HD 100546 b: 6.9 Jupiter masses, 1.9 Jupiter radii
- HAT-P-2b: 8.6 Jupiter masses, 1.17 Jupiter radii
- HD 17156 b: 3.2 Jupiter masses, 1.5 Jupiter radii
- Kepler-17b: 4.4 Jupiter masses, 1.97 Jupiter radii
- Kepler-10c: 17.2 Earth masses, 2.35 Earth radii
Note that Kepler-10c, although not as massive as OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb, is the largest rocky planet ever discovered, with a density similar to that of Earth.
How did scientists find these planets? The most common method is called the transit method, which involves observing the dimming of a star’s light as a planet passes in front of it. By measuring the size and duration of these dips in brightness, scientists can infer the size and orbit of the planet. Another method is called the radial velocity method, which involves measuring the tiny wobbles of a star caused by the gravitational tug of a planet.
Now, back to the biggest planet in the universe. OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb was detected through a technique called gravitational microlensing, which relies on the bending of light by a massive object to magnify the light of a more distant star. This method is rare but powerful, as it can detect planets that are far from their host stars and that would be missed by other techniques. In the case of OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb, the planet and its star were aligned in such a way that the planet’s gravity caused a brief but noticeable distortion of the starlight.
What do we know about OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb? Unfortunately, not much. Due to its distance and the limitations of the microlensing method, we cannot directly observe the planet’s atmosphere, composition, or surface features.
We only know that it orbits its star at a distance of about 2.3 astronomical units (AU), where one AU is the average distance between Earth and the Sun. This is further than the habitable zone, the range of distances from a star where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface, but that doesn’t mean that the planet is uninhabitable. It is possible that OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb.
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