Blanet

A blanet is a member of a hypothetical class of exoplanets that orbits black holes.[1]

Blanets are fundamentally similar to planets; they have enough mass to be rounded by their own gravity, but are not massive enough to start thermonuclear fusion, just like planets that orbit stars. In 2019, a team of astronomers and exoplanetologists showed that there is a safe zone around a supermassive black hole that could harbor thousands of planets in orbit around it.[2][3]

Etymology

The team led by Keiichi Wada of Kagoshima University in Japan has given this name to black hole planets.[4] The word is a portmanteau of black hole and planet.

Formation

Blanets are suspected to form in the accretion disk that orbits a black hole.[5]

References
  1. Letzter, R. (6 August 2020). "Thousands of Earthlike 'blanets' might circle the Milky Way's central black hole". Space.com. Retrieved 2020-08-08.
  2. Wada, K.; Tsukamoto, Y.; Kokubo, E. (26 November 2019). "Planet Formation around Supermassive Black Holes in the Active Galactic Nuclei". The Astrophysical Journal. 886 (2): 107. arXiv:1909.06748. Bibcode:2019ApJ...886..107W. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab4cf0.
  3. Wada, K.; Tsukamoto, Y.; Kokubo, E. (31 July 2020). "Formation of "Blanets" from Dust Grains around the Supermassive Black Holes in Galaxies": 1–16. arXiv:2007.15198. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. Starr, M. (3 August 2020). "We Have Ploonets. We Have Moonmoons. Now Hold Onto Your Hats For... Blanets". ScienceAlert. Retrieved 2020-08-08.
  5. Greene, T. (2020-08-04). "Scientists: What if black holes had a safe zone where little planets could live? Let's call them 'blanets'". The Next Web. Retrieved 2020-08-08.
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