Supermassive earth found

[Brian G Turner]

BBC News - 'Godzilla of Earths' identified

There is a new class of planet out there that astronomers are calling the "mega-Earth".
It is an object with a hard surface like our own world but much, much bigger.
The necessity for the new designation follows the discovery of a planet which has a mass some 17 times that of Earth.
Known as Kepler-10c, it orbits a star about 560 light-years away. Scientists described its properties at an American Astronomical Society meeting in Boston.

Remembering Halo Jones, I wonder how much the planet's mass will affect time relatively. Hm...

 

[ralphkern]

I suspect not, Jupiter is over 300 times the mass of Earth. Still, going for a stroll must be an uncomfortable experience :/

 

[JonH]

Still, going for a stroll must be an uncomfortable experience :/

I think if you don't account for spin, the gravity on Kepler-10c would be about 3g. That's uncomfortable, yes, but not beyond the bounds of possibility that a human could, with training, walk there. The temperature of over 200 centigrade, would be a little too toasty for me.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I think if you don't account for spin, the gravity on Kepler-10c would be about 3g. That's uncomfortable, yes, but not beyond the bounds of possibility that a human could, with training, walk there. The temperature of over 200 centigrade, would be a little too toasty for me.

Wimp.

 

[JonH]

I'm not going to migrate to a planet that's too hot or too cold. It has to be just right. <sighs> If only there was a neat way of encapsulating that idea so I wouldn't have to be called a wimp.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I'm not going to migrate to a planet that's too hot or too cold. It has to be just right. <sighs> If only there was a neat way of encapsulating that idea so I wouldn't have to be called a wimp.

Hands over a nice bowl of just-right porridge.

 

[ralphkern]

Ha, they don't call it the Goldilocks zone for nothing! There you go Jon, your not a wimp, you're someone mindful of finding just the right planet to create your porridge fueled paradise!

You could walk on Keplar-10C, maybe... Although I imagine the effects of sticking around there long term would be pretty rough on humans. To put it in perspective, I weigh 80 Kg, it would be like me suddenly having a mass of a quarter of a ton! Short term, its tolerable, in fact you would feel that kind of gravity on a rollar coaster. Mid term you would have all kinds of aches and pains, not to mention simply doing stuff would be HARD. Long term? Well it can't be good for you, the strain on the CV system, falling 1 meter would feel like you're falling 3 meters etc.

More of concern, other than the balmy temp, would be landing and then taking off again. Fuel costs wouldn't be linnear, they would be exponential. Fuel would weigh more, engine components would weigh more, your packed lunch would weigh more.

Nah, I'm still holding out for a nice Earth massing planet to reign over.

 

[Mirannan]

BBC News - 'Godzilla of Earths' identified



Remembering Halo Jones, I wonder how much the planet's mass will affect time relatively. Hm...

Hardly at all. IIRC, it takes something like the gravity of a white dwarf star to even start making a difference to time. On the surface of a white dwarf, time is slowed by a factor of one in 10,000.