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Space
Space
Science
Robert Lea

Two 'super-puff' cotton candy exoplanets are the lightest gas giants ever discovered

An illustration of the super-puff exoplanets TOI-791 b and TOI-791 c, with densities lower than that of candy floss they are the lightest planets ever discovered.

What is rarer than discovering a "super-puff" planet with densities much (much) lower than those of the solar system gas giants? Discovering two orbiting the same star.

That is exactly what astronomers have done, finding two extrasolar planets, or exoplanets, that are super-puff siblings orbiting the same star. Both planets, designated TOI-791 b and TOI-791 c, have densities lower than that of cotton candy, making them the lightest exoplanets ever seen.

"Only a handful of these super-puffy planets are known, and it is even rarer to find two in the same system," team leader George Dransfield of Oxford University said in a statement. "Their extremely low densities make them fascinating targets for understanding how planetary systems form and evolve."

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