Jan30
Strange exoplanet suffers intermittent inferno
Astronomers have observed a planet some 200 light-years from Earth that, for a few hours, becomes 700 ºC hotter every time its elliptical orbit brings it close to its sun.
In a study today in the British journal Nature, the scientists say they have generated the most realistic images ever captured of an exoplanet.
Hotter than molten lava
They used infrared data collected from NASA’s space-based Spitzer telescope to gain pictures of a strange world exposed briefly to a raging inferno. The computer generated images show a thin blue crescent on the dark side of the planet, opposite its star, while the scorched side glows a deep, crimson red.
Known as HD 80606b, the planet is a giant ball of gas that has four times the mass of Jupiter, the biggest planet of our system. [...]
Source: Cosmos Online – click here for full article
