Is the Surface Gravity of Mu Arae-c Miscalculated?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Researcher X
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Gravity Surface
AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers on the surface gravity and density calculations of the planet Mu Arae-c, questioning the accuracy of its mass and radius estimates. The initial hypothesis suggests it could be an eroded gas giant, but the derived density of 189.74 kg/m^3 is deemed implausibly low for a solid planet. Calculations using different mass estimates yield inconsistent results, with one suggesting a density of 1240 kg/m^3, still less than Earth's density. The discrepancies raise doubts about the validity of the radius estimate of 0.6 Jupiter diameters in relation to its current mass of 10.5 Earths. Overall, the discussion indicates that the current understanding of Mu Arae-c's composition and characteristics may be fundamentally flawed.
Researcher X
Messages
91
Reaction score
0
I was wondering about the possible surface g of this giant rocky planet, and I found this one origin hypothesis on wikipedia.

"If an eroded gas giant, the sun would have boiled the planet from a larger protoplanet, of 20 Earth masses up to half Jupiter's mass. If the latter, its current radius could be as high as 0.6 Jupiter."

With this radius/volume estimate, and the mass (10.5 Earths), put into a density calculator, we get a puny and utterly impossible 189.74kg/m^3. If it's the remaining solid core of a gas giant, shouldn't it be incredibly dense? And it simply cannot be this diffuse.
Balsa wood can sometimes be heavier than this. This is 0.034385647 x Earth's density. Even Saturn is about six times denser.
Using this mean density with the estimated maximum radius, I get only 0.2g.

Before I mixed up kg/m for g/cc and got the g to 34.385646974g and with the early 14e mass of the planet, I got the ridiculous figure of 310g.

So, I've got it either way too heavy or way too light. Where have I gone wrong? Or is the radius estimate on wiki waaaaaaay off. I wouldn't expect it to be that large after all.

I've seen 3.5g for this planet before, but I don't know how that was come to.
 
Astronomy news on Phys.org
"If an eroded gas giant, the sun would have boiled the planet from a larger protoplanet, of 20 Earth masses up to half Jupiter's mass. If the latter, its current radius could be as high as 0.6 Jupiter."

Note "if the latter", which means half Jupiter's mass. If we use that as the mass, the density comes out to a reasonable 1240 kg/m^3.
 
I see, but that is odd because it was already penned at 14 Earth masses, and then revised to 10.5. When it says "20 Earth masses to 1/2 Jupiter's mass". it means that it eroded from that mass of a gas giant down to the current terrestrial planet mass of 10.5.

1240 kg/m^2 would make more sense though. Even still, not entirely, because that would make it less dense than Earth, and we're not talking about a gas giant, we're talking about a solid planet that may have eroded from a gas giant. It's current density should be a lot greater, which is why I also can't console 0.6 Jupiter diameters (the claim for its current diameter) with 10.5 Earth masses (the current mass estimate). It just doesn't add up, and gives it an impossibly low density for a solid planet of that size. If it was 0.6 Jupiter diameters it would be much more massive than 10 times the Earth. Does this mean that that hypothesis is completely wrong?
 
TL;DR Summary: In 3 years, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope (or rather, a system of telescopes) should be put into operation. In case of failure to detect alien signals, it will further expand the radius of the so-called silence (or rather, radio silence) of the Universe. Is there any sense in this or is blissful ignorance better? In 3 years, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope (or rather, a system of telescopes) should be put into operation. In case of failure to detect...
Thread 'Could gamma-ray bursts have an intragalactic origin?'
This is indirectly evidenced by a map of the distribution of gamma-ray bursts in the night sky, made in the form of an elongated globe. And also the weakening of gamma radiation by the disk and the center of the Milky Way, which leads to anisotropy in the possibilities of observing gamma-ray bursts. My line of reasoning is as follows: 1. Gamma radiation should be absorbed to some extent by dust and other components of the interstellar medium. As a result, with an extragalactic origin, fewer...
This thread is dedicated to the beauty and awesomeness of our Universe. If you feel like it, please share video clips and photos (or nice animations) of space and objects in space in this thread. Your posts, clips and photos may by all means include scientific information; that does not make it less beautiful to me (n.b. the posts must of course comply with the PF guidelines, i.e. regarding science, only mainstream science is allowed, fringe/pseudoscience is not allowed). n.b. I start this...
Back
Top