First discovered carbon-rich planet

The Spitzer telescope of the US Aerospace Agency (NASA) has for the first time discovered a giant and dry hot planet containing so much carbon.

NASA's JPL laboratory said the planet, orbiting a star's orbit and was named WASP-12b , was the first carbon-rich planet ever observed.

Planetary artwork WASP-12b and its master star - (Photo: NASA)

In the journal Nature , astronomers hypothesize that WASP-12b may contain graphite, diamond, or even a strange form of carbon, in it, beneath the gas layers.

According to JPL, astronomers do not yet have the tools or techniques that are modern enough to observe the planet's orbiting stars outside the Sun, but their hypothesis is not unlikely.

The researchers also support the hypothesis that there may still be lighter carbon-rich rocky planets than the existing WASP-12b around other stars.

Carbon is a common component of planetary systems and is a key component of life on Earth. Astronomers often measure the ratio of carbon / oxygen to evaluate the composition of a star.

Our sun has a carbon / oxygen ratio of about 1/2 and so far no planet in the Solar System has been recorded to have more carbon than oxygen (currently astronomers have not measured carbon / oxygen on Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune).