In the vast world of space exploration, scientists are always on the hunt for planets outside our solar system.
These planets are called “exoplanets.” One of the exciting discoveries in this search is a kind of planet known as a “hot Jupiter.”
As the name suggests, these are big, Jupiter-like planets that are scorching hot.
But what makes them different from the Jupiter we know is that they orbit super close to their stars and can get extremely hot because of it.
A new discovery in this area has now caught the attention of astronomers.
This finding is so fascinating because this particular hot Jupiter is, believe it or not, even hotter than our sun! Researchers spotted it about 1,400 light-years away from us.
They used a big telescope in Chile called the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope to gather the data.
Dr. Na’ama Hallakoun, who led the study, says this newly found hot Jupiter is the hottest one they’ve ever come across.
It’s around 2,000 degrees hotter than our sun’s surface. What’s more, is that it’s easier to study this one than other hot Jupiters.
That’s because the star it orbits around is much dimmer than usual, making it easier for us to see the hot Jupiter without getting blinded by the star’s brightness.
Dr. Hallakoun thinks this discovery can be a game-changer. It could help scientists learn a lot about these hot Jupiters and how planets and stars evolve over time.
But here’s where things get even more intriguing. This hot Jupiter isn’t alone. It’s part of a “binary system,” meaning it orbits with another celestial object.
Both these objects are called “dwarfs,” but they’re not the same kind. One is a “white dwarf,” which is what’s left of a star after it’s burned up all its fuel.
The other one, which is not really a planet or a star, is a “brown dwarf.” These brown dwarfs are somewhere between a massive planet and a small star in terms of size.
Brown dwarfs are unique. They’re sometimes called “failed stars” because they aren’t big enough to start the process that powers regular stars.
But they’re strong and massive – about 80 times heavier than our Jupiter! – which allows them to stay intact even close to massive stars.
Just like our moon always shows the same face to Earth, this hot Jupiter shows only one side to its star, a phenomenon called “tidal locking.” This leads to one side of the planet getting a lot more heat than the other.
When the researchers looked at this hot Jupiter, they found that one side was hotter than any known giant planet. The difference in temperature between the hotter and cooler sides was about 6,000 degrees!
This discovery gives scientists a unique chance. They can now look into how super-strong sunlight affects the atmospheres of planets. This sunlight can cause gases to evaporate and even break apart molecules, affecting how planets and stars change over time.
Dr. Hallakoun says that this system, with the hot Jupiter and its white dwarf, gives a rare look into how such systems form and evolve.
While we know a lot about how single stars grow and change, we still have a lot to learn about how two-star systems work.
She also mentioned how this hot Jupiter is the complete opposite of a planet where life could thrive. It’s way too hot!
But by studying this system, especially with powerful tools like NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope, researchers might be able to learn more about other planets far away in space.
In summary, while space is vast and mysterious, every discovery, like this super-hot Jupiter, brings us a step closer to understanding the wonders of our universe.
The study was published in the journal Nature Astronomy.
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Source: Weizmann Institute of Science.
