Largest-Known Planet Befuddles Scientists

langelgjm writes to mention that scientists are quite puzzled over the discovery of the largest planet yet. According to study-leader Georgi Mandushev it should theoretically not even be able to exist. 'Dubbed TrES-4, the planet is about 1.7 times the size of Jupiter and belongs to a small subclass of "puffy" planets that have extremely low densities. The finding will be detailed in an upcoming issue of Astrophysical Journal. [...] "TrES-4 is way bigger than it's supposed to be," Mandushev told Space.com. "For its mass, it should be much smaller. It basically should be about the size of Jupiter and instead it's almost twice as big." "TrES-4 appears to be something of a theoretical problem," said study team member Edward Dunham, also of the Lowell Observatory. "Problems are good, though, since we learn new things by solving them."'"

Comments

Too big!

[Anonymous Coward]

It's way too big to be a planet and since small planets are called dwarf planets, please welcome the first discovered troll planet.

Re:I have a theory...

[GNT]

Uh no.

Go back to school. The hierarchy in science, in order of increasing evidence, is speculation, conjecture, hypothesis, theory.

The word "theory" in common parlance is an unsubstantiated guess. In science, the word "theory" means hypothesis supported by a large body of evidence, where the truth value of the theory is considered very high. Evolution is a theory that has so much evidence in its favor that the IDers are essentially nutcases who can't read or reason properly. It is the IDers that try to equivocate the position by using the common parlance flavor of the word "theory" when discussing science.

Re:I have a theory...

[andphi]

I've got a theory, it could be witches, some evil witches, which is ridiculous because Wicca good and love the earth and woman power and I'll be other there.

Allow me to specify

[Brian Cohen]

Ok, it isn't the mass that is surprising, it is the volume. Larger (in mass) exoplanets have been found, sometimes they fall in to the category of Brown Dwarfs. But TrES-4 is hardly massive. According to the article, the density is .2 g/mL and the volume is 1.7 times that of Jupiter. That gives a mass of 1.7*(1.43128*10^15 km^3) * .2 g/mL = 4.866352 * 10^26 kg. Jupiters mass is 1.8986*10^27 kg. That means TrES-4's mass is only about one quarter the mass of Jupiter ((4.866352 * 10^26 kg)/ (1.8986*10^27 kg)= 0.256312651)

Re:I have a theory...

[mhall119]

What about the ones who do present valid arguments for intelligent design? Nobody has ever presented a valid argument for intelligent design, all they do is present multiple and often contradictory arguments _against_ evolution.