K2-360 b: the ultradense ‘Super Earth’ that could reveal how planetary systems evolve in extreme situations

A rocky planet 764 light years away from Earth Tierra It has caused fascination in the scientific community, not only being one of the most dense celestial bodies ever recorded, but also being able to provide clues about how planetary systems form under extreme conditions.

The report, published in the journal Scientific Reports, revolves around the K2-360 planetary system, which consists of two planets orbiting a star similar to our own Sun.

The first of these stellar bodies was called K2-360 b, a rocky exoplanet that, despite only being 60% larger than Earth, has a mass 7.7 times greater than Earth, making it the densest planet found to date. date. K2-360 b also has the peculiarity of having an ultra-short period, orbiting around its star in only 21 hours.. It is accompanied by K2-360 c, an exoplanet 15 times more massive that orbits its planetary system every 9.8 days.

K2-360 b is of particular attention to scientists, as its extreme density seems to suggest that it is the core of what was once a larger planet, eroded over eons by being exposed to the radiation of its star.

How close is K2-360 b to its parent star? These distances are usually measured with the astronomical unit, which is based on the distance between the Earth and the Sun (149.6 million km). Thus, if the distance between our planet and its star is 1 AU, the distance that separates K2 -360 b is only 0.0177 AU.

“This planet gives us a glimpse of the possible fate of some worlds that are very close to their star, where only its rocky cores remain after billions of years of evolution”said University of Turin researcher Davide Gandolfi in conversation with Phys.org.