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Interesting Planet Apparently Heating Its Star

Posted by michael on from the hand-warmer dept.

T. Panimaesh writes "A Canadian graduate student has discovered a planet which is heating the star it rotates around. 'Evgenya Shkolnik detected a spot on HD179949 that was 700 degrees warmer than the surrounding areas and circled the star at the same pace as the planet's orbit, once every three days. First seen in 2001, it also appeared in two sets of observations in 2002. It is probably not an intrinsic feature of the star, which takes nine days to rotate. Instead, the planet appears to possess a magnetic field that interacts with the star's magnetic field.' The 'roaster' planet being studied is almost as big as Jupiter, a gas giant planet in our solar system, and has 270 times the mass of Earth. It moves at 150 Kilometres per second, completing it's orbit in just 3.5 days."

3 of 59 comments (clear)

  1. If this is not the first post... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
    I will dip my testicles in boiling bacon grease and let starving hyenas gorge themself on my deep-fried scrotum.

    As always, links to pictures would be posted!

  2. Corporate hegemony in America by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    This story in which the earth is now heating the sun is just a symptom of how the white racist corporate hegemony. In 1997, the Shrub Administration launched a nuclear missile named "Cassini" in an apparent attempt to attack Saturn. This violates the peaceful principle that space be free of nuclear materials. There are no white men on Saturn, so it is fair game for nuclear aggression.

    Imperialism knows no limits now.

  3. A what, now? by duggy_92127 · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    ...is almost as big as Jupiter, a gas giant planet in our solar system, and has...

    Woah, back up there. This 'Jupiter' you speak of, it's a what, now? A planet, here in our solar system? Wow! Please, tell me more!

    Doug