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I have a question about the artist depiction on the article. Why is the gas shooting outward? Shouldn't it stay on the same path as the planet due to gravity? L
by pnako 7y ago
I have a question about the artist depiction on the article. Why is the gas shooting outward? Shouldn't it stay on the same path as the planet due to gravity? Like a comet.
- eesmith 7y agoIt's being blown away by the solar wind. With an orbital period of only 1 1/2 (Earth) days, it's really close to the star. Like how a comet's tail(s) are formed. Note that a comet may has a gas tail and a dust tail - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_tail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_tail > The streams of dust and gas each form their own distinct tail, pointing in slightly different directions. The tail of dust is left behind in the comet's orbit in such a manner that it often forms a curved tail called the antitail, only when it seems that it is directed towards the Sun. At the same time, the ion tail, made of gases, always points along the streamlines of the solar wind as it is strongly affected by the magnetic field of the plasma of the solar wind. The ion tail follows the magnetic field lines rather than an orbital trajectory.
- pnako 7y agoAwesome, thanks for the explanation. So it's not just because it's gas, but because it's plasma. Reading more about this planet, I learned it was found by KELT, the Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope, which is a funny name (if you consider that scientists usually have "big things" like the Large Hadron Collider, the Kilometer Square Array, etc.)
- eesmith 7y agoTruth in advertising? They are extremely little. https://keltsurvey.org/telescopes https://keltsurvey.org/telescopes shows images. More likely the name is for the humor.