Supergiant planet

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A supergiant planet, also called superjovian, superjupiter (more massive than Jupiter) or simply a superplanet, is a planet that is more massive than the largest cold mass, but less massive than a brown dwarf. Jupiter itself is close to having the mass of the largest cold mass. These cold masses (not stars) are smaller in volume than the largest cold mass.

Many supergiant planets have been discovered outside Earth's solar system, in part because supergiant planets are easier to detect than smaller planets. While there is no hard dividing line between superjovian planets and brown dwarf stars, anything above a mass of 15 Jupiters (4,770 ME) would likely be classed as a star. However, recent research suggests some bodies as great as 17 Jupiter masses do not burn deuterium and hence are supergiant planets[1].

Oddly, supergiant planets are expected to have the same equatorial and polar diameters as Jupiter, regardless of mass.

Fictional supergiant planets include Mesklin, which occurs in Hal Clement's novel Mission of Gravity.

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