Cotton candy planets and magma oceans

The "Cotton Candy" Giants: NASA’s TESS Unveils the Puffiest Planets Ever Found | TOI-791Is it possible for a planet the size of Jupiter to be lighter than cotton candy? In today’s episode, we explore a spectacular discovery led by the University of Oxford and NASA’s TESS mission: TOI-791 b and TOI-791 c. Located 1,113 light-years away, these "super-puff" exoplanets have densities so low they’ve been compared to shaving foam fresh from the can.We break down the extraordinary data: while these worlds are nearly as large as Jupiter, they contain only 3% to 6% of its mass, making them 28 to 35 times lighter than our solar system’s gas giant. We also reveal the heroic role of the ASTEP telescope in Antarctica, where months of polar darkness allowed astronomers to capture the longest continuous planetary transits ever observed from the ground—lasting over 11 hours,,. Join us as we discuss why these rare "planetary siblings," locked in a gravitational dance, are forcing scientists to rewrite the rules of cosmic evolution.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/scitech-brief--6846358/support.This episode includes AI-generated content.