The Funky Planet

The weirdest planet ever discovered is also the lightest.

The largest planet ever discovered is also one of the strangest and theoretically should not even exist, scientists say.

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.

“Its mean density is only about 0.2 grams per cubic centimeter, or about the density of balsa wood,” said study leader Georgi Mandushev of the Lowell Observatory in Arizona. “And because of the planet’s relatively weak pull on its upper atmosphere, some of the atmosphere probably escapes in a comet-like tail.”

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