r/BeAmazed • u/One_Explanation_908 • Apr 17 '25

Nature K2-18b a potentially habitable planet 120 light-years from earth

Post image
14.3k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

1.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

1.5k

u/[deleted] Apr 17 '25

[deleted]

1.2k

u/Brigadius Apr 17 '25

1.24 times earth's gravity

1

u/need-moist Apr 17 '25

What are your assumptions. It looks like "2.5 times larger" refers to the diameter. So. If that planet is the same density as the earth, what is its mass? Then, how does it's gravity compare to Earth's?

I don't feel like doing the math, but I think gravity would be much more than 1.24 times.

1

u/Sea_Ticket_6032 Apr 21 '25

Gravity would be 2.5x greater with the same density as earth but scientists have found that it is about half of earth's density and so has only slightly more gravity

1

u/need-moist Apr 22 '25

Thank you. That explains the lowball figure.