Gigantic, Rocky ‘Mega-Earth’ Discovered (Video)

Astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have discovered a rocky planet 17 times heavier than Earth. One researcher calls it ‘the Godzilla of Earths.’

Astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) have discovered a rocky planet 17 times heavier than Earth, with a diameter 2.3 times larger than our planet.

The gigantic solid planet is being called a ‘Mega-Earth’, and one researcher went as far as to call it ‘the Godzilla of Earths.’ It’s real name, though, is ‘Kepler-10c’.

CfA says the planet is about 560 light-years from Earth, where it orbits its stars every 45 days.

When astronomers first discovered the planet using the Kepler Space Telescope, they assumed it was a gaseous planet because of its size.

 “Worlds such as this were not thought possible to exist. The enormous gravitational force of such a massive body would accrete a gas envelope during formation, ballooning the planet to a gas giant the size of Neptune or even Jupiter”, explained NASA.

But when the team used the Harps North instrument to measure the planet’s mass, they discovered it had to be rocky, due to its massive weight. So what are the implications? One of the researchers said, “Finding Kepler-10c tells us that rocky planets could form much earlier than we thought. And if you can make rocks, you can make life.”

In other words, even old stars have the possibility of hosting Earth-like planets and even life.