The daytime temperature of a hot Jupiter can reach about 7,000 to 9,500 degrees Celsius, which is over 2,000 degrees Celsius hotter than the surface of the Sun. Meanwhile, the nighttime temperature of this exoplanet ranges from just 1,000 to 2,700 degrees Celsius.
According to a study published on August 14 in the journal Nature Astronomy, an international team of astronomers has discovered a hot Jupiter, featuring an extremely large temperature difference between its two hemispheres.
(Source: Weizmann Wonder Wander)
A “hot Jupiter” is a term used by astronomers to describe exoplanets that are physically similar to the giant gas planet Jupiter but have orbits that are very close to their host stars.
Intense radiation from these stars has caused the surface temperatures of these hot Jupiters to be extremely high.
According to astronomer Na’ama Hallakoun from the Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS) and the lead researcher of the study, they discovered a “hot Jupiter” orbiting a white dwarf—a remnant core of a star that has exhausted its nuclear fuel—located approximately 1,400 light-years away from Earth.
Hallakoun stated that scientists can observe and study this “hot Jupiter” because it is significantly larger than the white dwarf it orbits, which is over 10,000 times fainter than a normal star.
The study also found that the daytime side of this “hot Jupiter” has temperatures ranging from 7,000 to 9,500 degrees Celsius, which is 2,000 degrees Celsius hotter than the surface of the Sun, while the nighttime temperature of this exoplanet only ranges from 1,000 to 2,700 degrees Celsius.
This temperature difference of up to 6,000 degrees Celsius is the largest observed in a “hot Jupiter.”
Hallakoun emphasized that this factor has made it “a perfect laboratory for future research on the extreme conditions of hot Jupiters.”
