[meteorite-list] A New Nearby Oddball Planet

[star-bits at tx.rr.com]

Sterling wrote:

<A planet of 75% iron with a 25% crust of Tungsten would have a density of 11, and I suppose that if everything less refractory than tungsten had boiled away, you could get such a planet...>

Those densities are for items sitting on your desk.  The iron core of earth has a density of almost 13gm/cm^3 out to 1000km.  Over the next 2000km the density drops to around 11gm/cm^3.   I would imagine if this planet is 1.6 times the diameter of earth the 11+gm/cm^3 would extend even farther from the center.  Additionally if most of the lighter elements have boiled away leaving a mostly iron and refractory element sphere, the 11+gm/cm^3 could comprise a significant portion of the sphere with the center being very dense.  In other words it probably doesn't need an exotic mix to get to this density.   The core of a gas giant boiled away (as Sterling mentioned) to the iron and refractory elements would probably do just fine. 

--
Eric Olson
610 W. Moore Rd
Tucson AZ 85755

http://www.star-bits.com