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VIDEO: A computer simulation of how the distribution of planet sizes changes as planetary systems age. The radius gap is evident at around double Earth s radius though it depends on. view more
Credit: Animation by Erik Petigura (UCLA); Simulation by James Owen (Imperial College London)
There s been a breakthrough in the case of the missing planets.
While planet-hunting missions have discovered thousands of worlds orbiting distant stars, there s a severe scarcity of exoplanets that measure between 1.5 and two times Earth s radius. That s the middle ground between rocky super-Earths and larger, gas-shrouded planets called mini-Neptunes. Since discovering this radius gap in 2017, scientists have been sleuthing out why there are so few midsize heavenly bodies.