Exoplanet Cycles Through a Year in 8.5 Hours
MIT researchers have discovered a planet about the size of Earth that cycles through an entire year in just 8 and-a-half hours.
MIT researchers have discovered a planet about the size of Earth that cycles through an entire year in just 8 and-a-half hours.
The glowing orb completes its entire revolution around its sun star in about one-third the time it takes our planet to complete a single day.
It’s been dubbed Kepler 78b, and the astronomers stumbled upon it while they were looking for planets that may support life.
If the planet were able to nurture live beings, life there would no doubt be interesting. Head to work during springtime, have lunch while its summer, enjoy a late-afternoon autumn coffee break and drive home in a snowstorm.
Alas, Kepler78b cannot reportedly sustain any kind of life we understand.
The planet has been estimated to have a surface temperature of up to 5000 degrees Fahrenheit.
Even though it’s Earth-sized, it travels 40 times closer to its sun than Mercury does, so the entire thing is most likely covered by molten rock.
Scientists are still excited about it, though. As it has such a tight orbit, scientists hope to use the gravitational effect it has on its sun to measure its mass, making that a first for a planet of its size outside our solar system.
MIT researchers have discovered a planet about the size of Earth that cycles through an entire year in just 8 and-a-half hours.
The glowing orb completes its entire revolution around its sun star in about one-third the time it takes our planet to complete a single day.
It’s been dubbed Kepler 78b, and the astronomers stumbled upon it while they were looking for planets that may support life.
If the planet were able to nurture live beings, life there would no doubt be interesting. Head to work during springtime, have lunch while its summer, enjoy a late-afternoon autumn coffee break and drive home in a snowstorm.
Alas, Kepler78b cannot reportedly sustain any kind of life we understand.
The planet has been estimated to have a surface temperature of up to 5000 degrees Fahrenheit.
Even though it’s Earth-sized, it travels 40 times closer to its sun than Mercury does, so the entire thing is most likely covered by molten rock.
Scientists are still excited about it, though. As it has such a tight orbit, scientists hope to use the gravitational effect it has on its sun to measure its mass, making that a first for a planet of its size outside our solar system.
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