Discovery of LTT 9779b: A Strange, Hot, and Reflective Exoplanet Outside Our Solar System

2023-07-15 05:14:21

Detection of a strange planet with high temperatures outside the solar system Researchers announced that they had spotted a strange planet outside the solar system, very hot and slightly larger than Neptune, orbiting a sun-like star every 19 hours and apparently surrounded by metal clouds that reflect most of the light falling on it back into space. The planet is called “LTT 9779b”, and it and its star are located in the Milky Way, approximately 264 light-years from Earth. A light year is the distance that light travels in a year, equal to 9.5 trillion kilometers. The planet’s diameter is 4.7 times larger than Earth’s, and it orbits so close to its star that it is closer than Mercury to the sun and 60 times closer to Earth’s orbit. The researchers wonder if LTT9779b, which is classified as a superhot Neptune, might have evolved into a gas giant that then lost most of its atmosphere, or if it started out at its current size. The researchers were amazed at the presence of the planet’s atmosphere in light of its close proximity to its star, and what prompted them to believe that the clouds surrounding it are metallic, as it is a mixture of titanium and silicates that make up most of the rocks of the Earth’s crust. It would have faded long ago by solar radiation. The researchers studied the planet using the European Space Agency’s “Cheops” orbital telescope. “No other planet like this has been discovered so far,” said astronomer and lead author of the study Sergio Hoyer of the “Marseille Astrophysical Laboratory” in France. “It’s a giant mirror in space,” said James Jenkins, an astronomer at the University of Diego Portales in Chile, and a co-author of the research published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. He added that this planet “reflects regarding 80% of the light falling on it, which makes it the most reflective object known in the universe,” noting his belief that “clouds can condense into droplets and titanium rain falls in parts of the atmosphere.” A high degree of temperature of the discovered planet and in light of the solar radiation emitted from its star, the surface temperature of the planet is regarding 1800 degrees Celsius, which is hotter than molten lava, as there appears to be a tidal relationship between that planet and its star like the moon’s relationship with the Earth, with a bright side Always facing the star, and always dark, opposite. Venus is the brightest object in the sky alongside the moon, and the most reflective object in the solar system. It is covered in clouds of toxic sulfuric acid, as Venus reflects regarding 75% of the light it receives, while the Earth reflects only regarding 30%. All known planets that revolve around their stars in less than one Earth day are either gas giants similar in composition to Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, but hotter due to solar radiation, or rocky ones smaller than Earth and lacking an atmosphere.

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