Super-Jupiter

A super-Jupiter is a gas giant exoplanet that is more massive than the planet Jupiter. For example, companions at the planet–brown dwarf borderline have been called super-Jupiters, such as around the star Kappa Andromedae.¹

By 2011 there were 180 known super-Jupiters, some hot, some cold.² Even though they are more massive than Jupiter, they remain about the same size as Jupiter up to 80 Jupiter masses.² This means that their surface gravity and density go up proportionally to their mass.² The increased mass compresses the planet due to gravity, thus keeping it from being larger.² In comparison, planets somewhat lighter than Jupiter can be larger, so-called "puffy planets" (gas giants with a large diameter but low density).³ An example of this may be the exoplanet HAT-P-1b with about half the mass of Jupiter but about 1.38 times larger diameter.³ High-mass super-Jupiters may lack the banded cloud structure of Jupiter and have a more chaotic surface.⁴ Super-Jupiters tend to have more eccentric orbits than smaller gas giants and may have formed from collisions between such gas giants.⁵

CoRoT-3b, with a mass around 22 Jupiter masses,⁶ is thought to have an average density of 26.4 g/cm³, greater than osmium (22.6 g/cm³), the densest chemical element under standard conditions. The planet is likely composed mainly of hydrogen, but the extreme gravitational compression causes the high density.⁷ The surface gravity is also high, over 50 times that of Earth.⁶

In 2012, the super-Jupiter Kappa Andromedae b was imaged around the star Kappa Andromedae,¹ orbiting it about 1.8 times the distance at which Neptune orbits the Sun.⁸