= CoRoT-3b
{c}
{wiki}
<CoRoT-3b> is a short-period transiting companion with roughly $22$ <Jupiter> <masses> but a <radius> close to <Jupiter>'s. Its discovery combined a sequence of $34$ <exoplanet transits> with ground-based <Doppler spectroscopy> and additional checks. This measured both a large <mass> and a compact <radius>, placing it above the ordinary giant-<planet> population in mean <mass density>.<Transiting exoplanets from the CoRoT space mission VI by Magali Deleuil and others>[Abstract: 34 transits, combined photometric and spectroscopic analysis, mass and radius]{ref}
The object illustrates why a measured <radius> alone does not distinguish a giant <planet> from a <brown dwarf>: <electron degeneracy pressure> can give very different <masses> similar <radii>. Its <mass> also does not uniquely reveal its formation mechanism. The discovery paper explicitly left the formation-based interpretation open between a low-mass <brown dwarf> and an unusually massive planetary companion.
Back to article page
