Shrinking planets could explain mystery of universe's missing worlds
Loading video... VIDEO: A computer simulation of how the distribution of planet sizes changes as planetary systems age. The radius gap is evident at around double Earth's radius -- though it depends on... view more Credit: Animation by Erik Petigura (UCLA); Simulation by James Owen (Imperial College London) There's been a breakthrough in the case of the missing planets. While planet-hunting missions have discovered thousands of worlds orbiting distant stars, there's a severe scarcity of exoplanets that measure between 1.5 and two times Earth's radius. That's the middle ground between ...
Source: eurekalert.org