UCSB Science Line
Sponge Spicules Nerve Cells Galaxy Abalone Shell Nickel Succinate X-ray Lens Lupine
UCSB Science Line
Home
How it Works
Ask a Question
Search Topics
Webcasts
Our Scientists
Science Links
Contact Information
Are there any planets bigger than Jupiter that are in the universe?
Question Date: 2018-12-06
Answer 1:

Yes, for example, the so called "Kepler-39b" is considered as a planet that is 18 times heavier than Jupiter. Kepler-39b orbits its host star, Kepler-39, which is about 3,560 light-years away from the solar system.


Answer 2:

Planets larger than Jupiter are common.

Planets can be up to about thirteen times the mass of Jupiter. With more than that, objects would have enough mass to support fusion of deuterium, which makes them brown dwarfs, objects that aren't quite stars but aren't really planets either.


Answer 3:

There are about 700 'exoplanets' the size of Jupiter and larger.

see here


Answer 4:

In our solar system, Jupiter is the largest in terms of both size (diameter) and mass. Outside our solar system, there is a large planet called Kepler-39b ( read here ) that is both more massive and larger in size than Jupiter. A larger mass does not always imply a bigger planet in terms of the planet’s diameter.

Above a certain mass, the atoms inside large planets will begin to compress with so much force that adding more mass will actually shrink the planet’s size. For example, Kepler-39b is 18 x more massive than Jupiter, but only 1.2 x bigger in size. There are also very large, “fluffy” planets, which have a bigger radius than Jupiter, but have much less mass than Jupiter. An example is the planet WASP-17b ( learn more here ) which is ~2x larger than Jupiter, but has only half the mass.



Click Here to return to the search form.

University of California, Santa Barbara Materials Research Laboratory National Science Foundation
This program is co-sponsored by the National Science Foundation and UCSB School-University Partnerships
Copyright © 2020 The Regents of the University of California,
All Rights Reserved.
UCSB Terms of Use