Knowledge

What is the largest size a planet can be?

320 light years away is a star called HD 100546.

In 2014, the discovery of a new exoplanet around it was announced. Creatively, it was named “HD 100546 b”.

Calculated to have the mass of anywhere between 60-752 Jupiters ( 752 as quoted by NASA), as well as a diameter of 613,000 miles (986,527.8 km), this planet flirts with the boundaries of physics. If it were any more massive, there would not be much to stop it from becoming a Brown Dwarf, a type of cool, dim star.

To put the size into perspective, consider this:

The fastest manned space craft ever was Apollo 10, reaching a peak speed of 24,791 mph (39,897.2471 kph).

Now, let’s imagine we can somehow hold this speed.

To travel merely the diameter of HD 100546 b, it would take Apollo 10 a just over a full day. If that doesn’t sound like a lot, hold on.

If we were to skim the tops of its clouds, tracing an exact orbit around its circumference at this mind numbing speed, it would take us 3.25 days.

To complete the same trek around earth, Apollo 10 would take only take an hour.

Related Posts

Why is it that a 747 starts off slowly then halfway down the runway, it’s full throttle? An A380 is full throttle from the start.

Apparently, a lot of pilots are not aware of the origin of this practice. This was not done until the 747 was introduced. Prior to the 747, when…

Why is the Martian soil considered toxic, and how does that affect growing food on Mars?

Sadly, if Mark Watney really had to try and survive by growing potatoes in his own shit, he would still be on Mars – and very dead. What Andy Weir…

Is it true that the Space Shuttle smelled quite bad when ground crews got aboard after a flight to clean and unload?

I worked as a Flight Crew Systems engineer for Lockheed Space Ops and then United Space Alliance, supporting over a hundred missions. Because some of my group took…

How can US Navy carriers that were built 3-4 decades ago be better than Chinese Navy carriers built just 2-3 years ago?

Love this question and I’ll throw my hat into the ring here. The question, for the benefit of the uninformed, is the following: Why is this ship that…

If a nuclear powered aircraft carrier was sunk in deep sea water, would the reactor be cooled enough by the sea, or would it explode?

The only time a nuclear reactor actually exploded was in Chernobyl. It happened because the operators broke a cardinal rule on thermal spectrum nuclear reactors: You NEVER, EVER…

For how long do I have to aim a laser at the moon to see a dot?

There are two possible questions here. The first is simply how long would it take for a laser to travel to the moon and back. The moon is…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *