J1407b
While watching a random video by Astrokobe on Youtube, I came across an odd planet named J1407b or Super Saturn, with rings 200 times bigger than Saturn. My friend who is always keen about stars and planets was also exploring the subject of Astronomy. He himself was watching Astrokobe and stumbled upon the same video as me. Then we exchanged facts with each other.
About J1407b
The name Super Saturn itself suggests that the planet is much much bigger than Saturn- the 6th planet in our solar system. Astronomers predict that this planet has Moons the size of Earth and Mars.The planet is relatively young, about 16 million years old while the Earth and Sun are 4.5 billion years old. That means J1407b is an infant in stellar age (the age of a star or planet). The planet is very hot and temperatures sometimes reach up to 1,000 or 2,000 Degrees celsius.
The RINGS
There are 37 rings (estimed) and the rings begin 30 million kilometres away from the planet stretching out to an impressive distance of 90 million kilometres. These rings are believed to be made up of dust. If Saturn was to have such rings, it would be easily visible in our night sky, even larger and brighter than the moon.
My Perspective
I am sure that just like Earth, this planet must have gravity as it holds together a number of rings and moons. Judging by its miniscule size, it should only be able to sustain only 30% of its rings but it is holding them close, that too quite a huge number. This definitely must be due to very strong gravity.
We still have a lot to discover about this planet, its moons and rings. It is really interesting to know about such celestial objects. It often makes me wonder what all new things we still might have in the vast universe.
Picture Credit-
https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/resources/242/j1407b-super-saturn/
Credit
Ron Miller
Writer: Jagrav Sharma
Grade: 5 (2023)
Place: Gurugram, India
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