this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2023
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Astronomy

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[–] btaf45@lemmy.world 14 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Here is a quick summary. Astronomers used to assume that planets as big as 2x Earth diameter could be rocky planets. But now we know that most planets bigger than 1.3 Earth diameter are mini Neptunes. Although sometimes rocky planets can get as big as 1.5 Earth diameter.

Neptune's diameter is about 50 megameters. Earth's diameter is 12.7 megameters. So per the article, most planets bigger than a 16.5 megameter diameter is probably a mini Neptune. Although a rocky planet could be as big as a 19 megameter diameter.

[–] __little_omega@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

Oh wow! That's why Andy Weir made Erid 1.5x Earth diameter.