With 17 times the mass of Earth, a new planet that has been discovered can't even be classified as a "Super-Earth." Instead, the planet — officially named Kepler-10c — is a "Mega-Earth."
NASA announced the planet's discovery on Monday at an astronomy meeting in Boston. Previously, scientists believed that any planet that was bigger than 10 Earth masses would have so much hydrogen gas it would be like Saturn or Jupiter. However, Kepler-10c "suggests that plus-size planets can stay rocky, with clearly defined surfaces, rather than becoming gaseous and bloated," explains The Washington Post's Joel Achenbach.
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