Where is wasp 12b

A new paper by Maciejewski et al reports a possible detection of this orbital-period decay in WASPb. The authors have acquired 31 new transit light-curves over four years, and detect a trend under which the latest transits occur about a minute early compared to an unchanging ephemeris.

Transits of WASPb. O—C is the observed time compared to that calculated from an unchanging orbital period. The time x-axis is given in both a count of days BJD and a count of transits. This is the most convincing claim yet of a changing orbital period in a hot Jupiter.

Whether it shows the spiral infall, though, is less clear. As the authors explain, other tidal interactions between the star and the planet, such as that causing apsidal precession , could account for the effect.

Further, in close binary stars there are known to be similar period changes on decade-long timescales that are not fully understood, but which might be caused by Solar-like magnetic cycles on the star. One suggestion that this is not spiral infall comes from the deduced value of the tidal quality factor, Q, which the authors calculate as 2. This is lower than other estimates of Q as nearer 10 7.

The way to settle the issue will be to accumulate more data over a longer timespan until the case for spiral infall becomes overwhelming. It will thus be important to continue monitoring WASPb, and the other short-period hot Jupiters, over the coming decades.

Of the ten planets studied, six are WASP discoveries. The results, published in Nature , report that hot Jupiters are a diverse group that have atmospheres ranging from clear to cloudy.

Strong water absorption lines are seen when the planets have a clear atmosphere, but less so when the atmospheres are dominated by clouds and hazes. The NASA press release has so far resulted in articles on over news websites worldwide. The paper was lead-authored by David Sing of the University of Exeter. If a hot Jupiter has a magnetic field of a few Gauss it would be surrounded by a magnetosphere that would carve out a hole in the stellar wind of the host star.

In the colour-coded figure see scale on the right the blue and red show the density of the stellar wind. A low-density black magnetosphere surrounds each planet white dots.

Since these planets orbit edge on to us, the bow shock would absorb ultra-violet light from the star, and so produce a characteristic light-curve with a broad dip preceding the transit. Position Right ascension — analogous to longitude — is one component of an object's position.

Position Declination — analogous to latitude — is one component of an object's position. Constellation One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. Distance The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units AU. Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years.

Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. Dimensions The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. About The Data Data Description Proposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive. Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. It takes this alien world only 1. The star's scorching heat is slowly stripping away and devouring the planet's atmosphere.

In 10 million years, this alien world could be completely consumed. Almost two times the size of our Jupiter, WASPb is a sizzling gas giant whose temperature is approximately 4, degrees Fahrenheit 2, degrees Celsius.

Gravity causes enormous tidal forces which are streching the planet into the shape of an egg. A hulking monster of a star is stealing pieces of its nearby planet, WASPb, to assemble itself into the ultimate Frankenstein creation.