The Hottest Known Planet Continuously Melts its Own Atmosphere
As we peer out into the universe in search of other worlds, we’ve spotted many gas giants orbiting close to their home stars. These so-called “hot Jupiters” have extreme environments, but the planet KELT-9b is in a class of its own. This is the hottest exoplanet ever discovered, and we’re just now understanding what that means. A new analysis of KELT-9b shows that molecules in its atmosphere are torn apart.
Astronomers discovered KELT-9b in 2017 orbiting a star about 670 light-years away. It has a surface temperature of 7,800 degrees Fahrenheit (4,300 degrees Celsius). That makes it the hottest exoplanet by far, and it’s even warmer than some stars. The planet might have become a star itself if not for its low mass, which is just shy of three times that of Jupiter.
The observational data is a good match for computer models developed here on Earth. Without hydrogen dissociation, models predict unfathomable wind speeds of 37 miles per second (60 kilometers per second). Hydrogen dissociation distributes the heat more evenly, although astronomers are still baffled by the location of the planet’s “hot spot,” which isn’t directly under the star as expected. That’s just one more mystery to investigate on KELT-9b.
Continue reading
Intel ‘Raptor Lake’ Core i9-13990K: Faster, and Hotter, Than AMD’s Zen 4
Intel's newest CPU is the king of the hill in the CPU wars, just make sure you have a beefy cooling setup.
Intel ‘Raptor Lake’ Core i9-13900K: Faster, and Hotter, Than AMD’s Zen 4
Intel's newest CPU is the king of the hill in the CPU wars, just make sure you have a beefy cooling setup.
Chinese Fusion Reactor Gets 6 Times Hotter Than the Sun
The team operating the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) managed to heat the reactor's internal plasma to 100 million degrees Celsius (212 million Fahrenheit).
The Hottest Cars From BMW Test Fest
The latest and sportiest from BMW, Mini, and even Rolls-Royce. We ride and drive in the new BMW X7 super-SUV, and also the BMW X3 Competition — think of an M-car on even more steroids.