Holy Hot Jupiter Boomerangs Within Touching Distance Of Parent Star

Sky watchers have witnessed a planet in transition from eccentricity to stability, thanks to NASA's Spitzer Telescope.

The planet, HD 80606b, termed as 'hot Jupiter', is more a comet than a planet. It's highly elliptical orbit around its parent star causes changes to planet that are extreme; a temperature fluctuation of 1,100 degree Celsius can be seen in a span of a day on the planet. Scientists believe the planet is on its way to a stable, circular inner orbit.

The extreme climate change seen on the planet is a result of its orbit. The elliptical orbit on its extreme takes the planet extremely far from its parent star. When it approaches closer, the orbit bends tightly around the star bringing the planet within touching distance. Being a gas giant, the planet survives its ordeal but not without undergoing rapid heating and cooling. The turn around the parent star is known to last only 20 hours!

"As the planet gets closer to the star, it feels a burst of starlight, or radiation. The atmosphere becomes a cauldron of chemical reactions, and the winds ramp up far beyond hurricane force," said Greg Laughlin, a co-author of the study.

Hot Jupiters, gas giants as large as Jupiter but more massive, puzzle astronomers with their behavior. For one, their movement often makes astronomers realize that would our solar system is not the norm.

"If the Earth were to be moved that close to our sun, it would lose its atmosphere and turn its surface to magma," said Julien de Wit, a postdoc in MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences.

Using Spitzer to make their observations researchers also estimated that the rotation time of the planet is 90 hours, measuring for the first time an exoplanet's day in length. The measurement has is twice what was predicted for the planet, raising further questions about what is currently known about Hot Jupiters.