(ORDO NEWS) — Last month, astronomers discovered the exoplanet LTT 9779b, which is 260 light years away. And more recently, scientists have discovered an atmosphere on the body, although it should not be there by all indications.
The observed exoplanet is much larger than Neptune in size and revolves around a star similar to the Sun. The orbit is so close to the star that a year only lasts 19 hours. It follows from this that the body has incredibly high temperatures. This moment was described by a group of astronomers led by Ian Crossfield from the University of Kansas (USA).
Average temperatures on the exoplanet exceed 1650 ° C. Under such conditions, the atmosphere simply cannot exist: all substances quickly evaporate. However, the air shell still exists, despite the obvious contradictions between physics and reality. The atmosphere was seen thanks to the infrared light that is emitted by the body.
LTT 9779b gets its hottest time around noon. On Earth, this period occurs usually after 12:00, because heat is absorbed faster than its radiation back into space.
The temperatures on the exoplanet should be even higher. Most of the sun’s heat appears to be effectively reflected by daytime clouds, noted Niklas Cowen of the Institute for Exoplanet Research and McGill University.
A team of experts from the University of New Mexico, Diana Dragomir, said planets belonging to hot Neptune are rare. It is difficult to say how a seen body can exist at all in such harsh conditions. The mass of the planet is insufficient to hold the atmosphere.
The main theory is that the exoplanet was much larger, and now it is in the stage of rapid contraction.
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