NASA (Exoplanet Catalog artwork)WASP-193b
A planet 50% bigger than Jupiter with the density of cotton candy
Overview
WASP-193b is a hot, transiting gas giant planet located approximately 1,232 light-years (378 pc) away in the constellation of Hydra, orbiting the F-type star WASP-193. Its discovery was made by the WASP-South transit survey and announced in 2023. The planet is extremely bloated, with a radius nearly 50% larger than Jupiter, despite having only 14% of its mass. This places its density at 0.059 g/cm3, the second lowest of any known exoplanet as of May 2024 after Kepler-51d, and comparable to that of cotton candy.
Source: Wikipedia
NASA: WASP-193 b is a Neptune-like exoplanet that orbits a F-type star. Its mass is 35.59678158 Earths, it takes 6.2 days to complete one orbit of its star, and is 0.0668 AU from its star. Its discovery was announced in 2023.
Why it matters
- Density around 0.06 g/cm³ — among the lightest planets known when announced in 2024.
- Orbits a Sun-like star every 6.2 days at about 1,200 light-years.
- Theories struggle to explain how a planet this inflated can persist.
NASA puts it this way: “WASP-193 b is a gas giant exoplanet that orbits an F-type star. Its mass is 0.139 Jupiters, it takes 6.2 days to complete one orbit of its star, and is 0.0676 AU from its star. Its discovery was announced in 2023.”
Discovery & system
- Discovered
- 2023 · Transit · WASP-South
- Discovery paper
- Barkaoui et al. 2024
- Host star
- WASP-193 · F9 · 6,080 K · 1.02 M☉
- System
- 1 known planet, 2 stars
The system
| World | Period | Distance | Radius | Mass | Temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WASP-193 b | 6.25 d | 0.067 AU | 1.32 R♃ | 35.6 M⊕ | 1,250 K |
By the numbers
- Radius
- 1.32 R♃14.8 R⊕
- Mass
- 35.6 M⊕212.59 ×10²⁴ kg
- Orbital period
- 6.25 d0.02 yr
- Distance from star
- 0.067 AU9.99 million km
- Eccentricity
- 0.081elliptical
- Equilibrium temp.
- 1,250 K977 °C
- Starlight received
- 402 × Earth
- Distance from Earth
- 1,181 ly362.1 pc
- Density
- 0.06 g/cm³0.01 × Earth
Sources
Image: NASA (Exoplanet Catalog artwork) · NASA media: generally free of copyright · image page
Text: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Taglines and highlights are editorial.