Produced by: Manoj Kumar
A “super-Earth” named K2-360 b, discovered 750 light-years away, boasts extreme density, packing nearly 8 Earth masses into a planet only 1.6 times Earth’s size.
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K2-360 b completes an orbit around its star in just 21 hours, making it one of the fastest known orbital periods for rocky planets.
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K2-360 c, a massive outer planet with 15 Earth masses, orbits every 9.8 days and likely influenced the inner planet’s unique position.
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K2-360 b may be the stripped core of a once-larger planet, its outer layers eroded by intense radiation from its nearby host star.
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The rocky planet has an iron-rich composition, with nearly 48% of its mass forming a massive core surrounded by a rocky mantle, says co-author Mahesh Herath.
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K2-360 b offers a glimpse into the evolution of close-in planets, where billions of years of stellar radiation leave only dense cores.
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Simulations suggest K2-360 c may have pushed the inner planet into its tight orbit through high-eccentricity migration, says Alessandro Trani of the Niels Bohr Institute.
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K2-360 b is among the densest known ultra-short period planets, revealed by NASA’s K2 mission and confirmed by ground-based telescopes.
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The K2-360 system provides insights into extreme planetary evolution, offering clues about how terrestrial planets form under harsh conditions.
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