The newly discovered exoplanet WASP-12b is, like the similar world WASP-3b depicted here, orbits very close to its host star and therefore is incredibly hot. [Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias]
Posted on 12/28/2008 3:21:05 PM PST by SunkenCiv
...the exoplanet tally stands at 334 -- with more than 60 of those found this past year alone... WASP-12b... has 1.4 times the mass of Jupiter... orbits so close to the host star (0.023 astronomical unit, or about 2 million miles) that it takes just 26 hours to complete one revolution... has a diameter 1.79 times that of Jupiter. Run the numbers, and you'll deduce that WASP-12b has a mean density of just 0.3 g/cm3... The 12th-magnitude host star, situated some 670 light-years away in southeastern Auriga, is a luminous F dwarf that scalds WASP-12b with light 6,600 times more intense than we get here on Earth. So its cloud-top temperature must be in the vicinity of 2,500 kelvins (nearly 4,600°F)... the discovery team, led by Leslie Hebb (University of St. Andrews, Scotland), suspects that the planet is shrouded in energy-absorbing hazes consisting of titanium and vanadium oxides, among the few things that are solid at those temperatures. The exotic dust might be absorbing enough light and heat to puff out the planet's outer layer.
(Excerpt) Read more at skyandtelescope.com ...
The newly discovered exoplanet WASP-12b is, like the similar world WASP-3b depicted here, orbits very close to its host star and therefore is incredibly hot. [Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias]
Astronomers find new planets, including a ‘baby’
ABC (Australia) | April 3, 2008 | U/A
Posted on 04/03/2008 3:26:47 AM PDT by Fred Nerks
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1995946/posts
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A much nicer present than the one I thought I was gonna get.
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