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Friday, 30 January 2009 04:45 |
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Computer-generated image of severe weather pattern on the exoplanet HD8606b. | Paul Butler and colleagues have observed an extrasolar planetary system in which global warming has been taken to extremes: a 700˚K rise in a few hours. The results are reported in the cover story of the 29 January issue of Nature. The gas giant planet, known as HD8606b, orbits a star that is 200 light-years from Earth. Its eccentric orbit around the star takes it from a distance approximating Earth's orbit to hot regions much closer than Mercury is to our Sun. Infrared sensors aboard NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope measured the planet's temperature as it swooped close to the star, observing a planetary temperature rise from 800 to 1,500˚K (980 to 2,240˚F) in just six hours.
Butler commented, "Even after finding nearly 200 planets, the diversity and oddness of these new worlds continues to maze and confound me." Butler made the precision velocity measurements of the host star that allowed the planet's orbit to be calculated. For more information, see the CIW Press Release or the paper in the 29 January issue of Nature. |
