Weird Exoplanets
This is the text version of the interactive 3D documentary. 한국어
All exoplanets › Part 2: Inferno worlds
KELT-9b
A planet hotter than many stars
View in 3D · narrated- Distance
- about 670 light-years (about 6,300 trillion km, 670 years at light speed)
- Type
- Ultra-hot Jupiter (gas planet)
- Size
- About 1.9 times Jupiter’s width
- Star
- KELT-9 (much hotter than the Sun)
- Year (orbit)
- About 1.5 days
- Temperature
- Day side about 4,300 °C
- Found
- Announced in 2017
About 670 light-years, toward Cygnus
KELT-9b is about 670 light-years away, toward the constellation Cygnus. Its star is a blue-white star nearly twice as hot as the Sun. The planet races around it every 1.5 days.
View this scene in 3D →Hotter than a star
Its day side is about 4,300 °C. It is the hottest exoplanet found so far, hotter than the surface of many small stars. This heat rips the hydrogen molecules in its air apart into single atoms. Some of the air is thought to escape into space and drift away like a tail.
Why?The planet is very close to a very hot star, so it gets blasted with light. It always keeps the same face toward the star, so the day side never gets a break.
Learn moreThe split-up hydrogen is thought to join back together after winds carry it to the cooler night side. That explanation came from Spitzer Space Telescope observations. The planet was announced in 2017.
View this scene in 3D →Sources: Wikipedia: KELT-9b
Distances and facts come from published research and NASA, as noted under each planet. The 3D close-ups are artist’s views based on that research, not photographs. Distances to faraway stars can carry some uncertainty.