Blanet
Ablanetis a member of ahypotheticalclass ofexoplanetsthat directlyorbitblack holes.[1]
Blanets are fundamentally similar to otherplanets;they have enoughmassto beroundedby their owngravity,but are not massive enough to startthermonuclear fusionand becomestars.In 2019, a team ofastronomersandexoplanetologistsshowed that there is a safe zone around asupermassive black holethat could harbor thousands of blanets in orbit around it.[2][3]
Etymology
[edit]The team led by Keiichi Wada ofKagoshima UniversityinJapanhas given this name to black hole planets.[4]The word is aportmanteauofblack holeandplanet.
Formation
[edit]Blanets are suspected to form in theaccretion diskthat orbits a sufficiently large black hole.[3][5]
Possible candidates
[edit]- The unconfirmedextragalactic planetM51-ULS-1b.[6]
- The unconfirmedplanetorbrown dwarf,IGR J12580+0134 b orbits asupermassive black hole[7]
In fiction
[edit]- In the two episodes "The Impossible Planet"and"The Satan Pit"(both 2006) of the British television seriesDoctor Who,the plot of the episode takes place on the titular “impossible planet”, a barren blanet called Krop Tor orbiting a black hole called K37 Gem 5.
- InInterstellar(2014), two of the 3 terrestrial planets orbiting supermassive black hole Gargantua are proper blanets. The other one orbits amain-sequence starnamed Pantagruel.
References
[edit]- ^Letzter, R. (6 August 2020)."Thousands of Earthlike 'blanets' might circle the Milky Way's central black hole".Space.com.Retrieved2020-08-08.
- ^Wada, K.; Tsukamoto, Y.; Kokubo, E. (26 November 2019)."Planet Formation around Supermassive Black Holes in the Active Galactic Nuclei".The Astrophysical Journal.886(2): 107.arXiv:1909.06748.Bibcode:2019ApJ...886..107W.doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab4cf0.
- ^abWada, K.; Tsukamoto, Y.; Kokubo, E. (2021)."Formation of" Blanets "from Dust Grains around the Supermassive Black Holes in Galaxies".The Astrophysical Journal.909(1): 96.arXiv:2007.15198.Bibcode:2021ApJ...909...96W.doi:10.3847/1538-4357/abd40a.S2CID220870610.
- ^Starr, M. (3 August 2020)."We Have Ploonets. We Have Moonmoons. Now Hold Onto Your Hats For... Blanets".ScienceAlert.Retrieved2020-08-08.
- ^Greene, T. (2020-08-04)."Scientists: What if black holes had a safe zone where little planets could live? Let's call them 'blanets'".The Next Web.Retrieved2020-08-08.
- ^"Chandra Sees Evidence for Possible Planet in Another Galaxy - NASA".Retrieved2024-08-07.
- ^https://exoplanet.eu/catalog/igr_j12580_0134_b--9454/
- ^https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/0004-637X/816/1/20
