Misery
Creator
Posts : 57
Join date : 2010-05-02
Age : 32
Location : Arizona
 |  Subject: Star Devouring a Planet Thu May 20, 2010 7:34 pm | |
| - Quote :
- Six hundred light-years from Earth, a huge exoplanet circling close to its home star is slowly, inexorably being devoured.
WASP 12B orbits just 2 million miles from its star, which means the surface of the planet reaches temperatures over 2,800 Fahrenheit. The sun’s gravitational pull is stronger on the front surface of the planet than on the back, so the planet has been pulled into a football shape. If you were floating on the gaseous planet, and looking heavenward, the sun would take up nearly the entire sky.
And in the next 10 million years, the star that so dominates the planet will destroy it, according to a paper published in May in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Full Article: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/05/star-devours-planet/ | |
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Betta
Posts : 75
Join date : 2010-05-03
Age : 32
Location : Thailand
| | Subject: Re: Star Devouring a Planet Wed May 26, 2010 11:08 am | |
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