Astrophysicists Find "Impossible" Planet

SpuriousLogic writes "Scientists have discovered a planet that shouldn't exist. The finding, they say, could alter our understanding of orbital dynamics, a field considered pretty well settled since the time of astronomer Johannes Kepler 400 years ago. The planet is known as a 'hot Jupiter,' a gas giant orbiting the star Wasp-18, about 330 light years from Earth. The planet, Wasp-18b, is so close to the star that it completes a full orbit (its "year") in less than an Earth day, according to the research, which was published in the journal Nature. Of the more than 370 exoplanets — planets orbiting stars other than our sun — discovered so far, this is just the second with such a close orbit. The problem is that a planet that close should be consumed by its parent star in less than a million years, say the authors at Keele University in England. The star Wasp-18 is believed to be about a billion years old, and since stars and the planets around them are thought to form at the same time, Wasp-18b should have been reduced to cinders ages ago."

Comments

Maybe the measurements are wrong or incomplete

[Junior J. Junior III]

How presumptuous is it for these physicists to make claims about exoplanets, when no one has been able to visit them to confirm anything that our measurements are telling us *might* be out there? How confident is astrophysics in what they're seeing and interpreting?

Is it re-up time for grants already?

[synthesizerpatel]

Queue the 'Killer meteor will come within 100 miles of earth!' too as the scientists ramp up their efforts to get funding. At least these guys have some facts to back them up.

I thought this was settled science!

[isa-kuruption]

Just like man-made global warming is settled, I thought orbital dynamics is settled! I mean... 400 years, c'mon.. of course it's settled! Obviously these findings go against the overwhelming consensus among astrophysicists and is therefore wrong!