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Inverse
Inverse
Science
Jeff Nagle

Astronomers find a heavier-than-expected element on a giant hellworld


In 2021, WASP-76b made headlines as the most heavy metal exoplanet. The gas giant, bigger than Jupiter, orbits its star at a distance closer than Mercury — and astronomers suggested it was so hot it might rain iron. A similarly strange exoplanet, WASP-121b, is so hot and so close to its star that it’s warped into the shape of a rugby ball.

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