Thursday, February 23, 2012

Astronomers Confirm a Hot and Steamy Exoplanet

With a density of 2 gm/cc, this is likely to be a true water world - a world where a rocky interior is surrounded by thousands of miles of ice (not "our" ice, but Ice XI, X, VII), probably a few 100 km of hot liquid (kept from boiling by pressure), and then a steam bath. Look at this phase diagram [lsbu.ac.uk], and remember that you are starting at 500 K or so, and the pressure increases greatly at depth, so going down into the planet means you are probably following a nearly vertical (but tilted to the right) line on the phase diagram.

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/hvngoyEMI_c/astronomers-confirm-a-hot-and-steamy-exoplanet

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