Inspired by Darwin's "Origin of Species," he expects planets to evolve just as plants and animals do.
"What they have done is tell us that we shouldn't expect planets of binary stars to have quite the same properties as systems of planets orbiting single stars," he says.
Therefore, we expect Planet J, if exists, to be a gas giant1.
This implies that the Solar System is a prototype of planetary systems around main-sequence stars in terms of planets" configuration, as expected from planet formation theories.
The Z machine can reach 1,000 gigapascals — the condition expected inside planets nearly three times Earth's mass.
This is puzzling to theorists who had expected gaseous planets to form much further out, as in the Solar System.
When Ceres was discovered on Jan . 1 1801, it was declared a bona fide planet, because it filled a gap where astronomers had expected a planet.
Although Lowell and other astronomers had predicted that the unknown planet would be much larger and brighter than the object Tombaugh found, Pluto was quickly accepted as the expected ninth planet.
Scientists had not expected this planet to be so high in these elements, which are thought to be among the first to escape a planet, particularly when it's so close to the sun.
In the process, they could also help us understand why our own Earth is the way it is – and what to expect from planets elsewhere in the galaxy.
