Space & Astronomy

Scientists find hottest known extrasolar world

By T.K. Randall
June 5, 2017

Image: AI-generated (Midjourney) Discovered by a team of astronomers using the Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope (KELT), the new planet was particularly challenging to detect due to its high brightness and rotational speed.

To find it, Professor B. Scott Gaudi at Ohio State University and colleagues observed a dip in the light coming from its parent star which is situated around 650 light years away.

"In some sense, it's a race to the bottom: finding the smallest planets around the smallest stars because those are the ones that might be habitable," he said."What our collaboration likes to say is that there's room at the top."

KELT-9b however, being the warmest planet ever discovered, is anything but habitable.

"This planet is much hotter than most stars in the universe," said Harvard University's David Charbonneau. "It is intriguing to consider how it formed and what its ultimate fate will be."

Source: New Scientist

Tags: Extrasolar Planets