What Is the Largest Planet Discovered?
It is not an easy task to determine which is the largest planet in the universe as the technology created by humans has not yet enabled the discovery of a large part of the universe. In fact, 99% of the universe is still believed to have remained undiscovered by mankind.
So, OneHowTo.com reveals which is the largest planet discovered so far.
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The largest planet that has been discovered
In November 2012, a group of researchers in Hawaii discovered "Super-Jupiter" which is the largest planet that had been discovered. It is located outside the solar system, 170 light-years away from Earth and is 13 times larger than Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system.
It was first named "Kappa Andromedae B" but it is colloquially known as "Super-Jupiter". It has an average temperature of 1,400 degrees centigrade. The star that orbits around it is younger than the Sun, being only 30 million years old.
However, experts are not entirely sure if it is a planet, as it could also be a brown dwarf.
The second largest planet
In October 2013, another planet was discovered and earned a place as the second largest planet in the universe. This planet has the scientific name MOA-2011-BLG-322. It is 8 times larger than Jupiter and 2,500 times bigger than planet Earth.
This extra-solar planet is about 25,000 light-years away and its mass is equivalent to a third of our Sun.
The largest planet in the solar system
Within our solar system, the largest planet is: Jupiter. This planet is 1,400 times larger than the Earth. In addition, it is 13 times larger than the rest of the planets that make up our solar system.
Jupiter is basically formed by hydrogen gas and its temperature can drop to 120 degrees below zero. This planet is much faster than ours, as it only takes 9 hours and 50 minutes to orbit the Sun.
The largest planet discovered in 2016
In 2016, the NASA discovered the largest planet around a two star system. Its name is Kepler-1647, it cannot be seen by the naked eye as it is 3,700 light-years away. Similarly to Jupiter, Kepler-1647 is a gas giant.
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