If you are looking for some stone to redo that driveway wall of yours there is good news and bad news. Scientists just found a massive, untapped new source for us to quarry, but it’s going to cost you a lot in shipping.
Researchers believe that they have been able to determine that the exoplanet know as BD+20594b is actually made of solid rock, and not gas like most planets its size. At about half the size of Neptune, it would make it the largest, all-rock planet in the known universe. (Although there are some troubling rumors the planet is thinking of switching to an all-sports talk format.)
You can see their calculations here if you are so inclined, but fortunately the good folks at Science News have put what all of it means into some digestible terms for the rest of us. Although the planet is just over two times as wide as earth, it is 16 times more massive, making it much denser. The planet, first discovered in 2015 by the Kepler Space Telescope, is found in the Aries constellation about 500 light years away.
Matt Damon left for it this morning.
What do you think of the largest rock planet? Would they be into Aerosmith or Metallica? Journey to the cosmos of our comments section below to tell us.
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HT:Â Science News
Image:Â JPL-CALTECH/NASA
