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Comparison of best-fit size of the\u00a0exoplanet\u00a0HD 80606 b\u00a0with Jupiter. Credit: Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\nComparison of best-fit size of the\u00a0exoplanet\u00a0HD 80606 b\u00a0with Jupiter. Credit: Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n
Jupiter\u2019s cloud tops hover around \u2013145\u00b0C. So what do astronomers mean when they call something a \u201chot Jupiter\u201d?<\/p>\n
In the case of HD 80606 b, they mean a gas giant that gets blasted by its star so intensely that NASA\u2019s James Webb Space Telescope watched its temperature jump by about 600\u00b0 C. The planet, four times Jupiter\u2019s mass and 217 light-years from Earth, follows a stretched-out orbit that turns it into a rare test case for watching alien weather and chemistry change in real time.<\/p>\n
Hot Jupiter?<\/p>\n
Hot Jupiters are giant planets that orbit very close to their stars. Many finish an Earth-year in just days, or even hours. Their tight orbits bake their atmospheres and make them easier for telescopes to study because they block or emit more starlight than smaller planets.<\/p>\n
HD 80606 b belongs to this special family of gas giants, but it breaks the usual mold. It does not stay close to its star. Its 111-day orbit is extremely elliptical, meaning it swings from far out to perilously near, then back again.<\/p>\n
\u201cHot Jupiters are already considered some of the most extreme exoplanets we know of, but even among that population, HD 80606 b is one of the most extreme,\u201d Tiffany Kataria of NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a NASA statement. \u201cWe typically think of hot Jupiters as hot gas giants sitting right next to their stars, but this planet\u2019s highly eccentric orbit creates a completely different beast.\u201d<\/p>\n
How Webb Caught the Roasting<\/p>\n
The team had to time the observation like a celestial ambush. HD 80606 b reaches its closest approach to its star only once every 111 days, and Webb can point at a given target only during certain windows in its own orbit around the Sun.<\/p>\n
Researchers used Webb\u2019s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) to watch the planet before, during and after periastron\u2014the point when an orbiting body comes closest to its star. At that same moment, HD 80606 b passed behind the star from Webb\u2019s view, creating a secondary eclipse.<\/p>\n
That eclipse gave astronomers a clean comparison. Before the planet disappeared, Webb saw light from both the star and the planet. During the eclipse, it saw mostly the star. The difference revealed the planet\u2019s own infrared glow, which carries information about heat.<\/p>\n
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To read that glow, the team used spectroscopy, a technique that spreads light into its component wavelengths. Different molecules absorb and emit light at particular wavelengths, so the spectrum can reveal both temperature and chemistry.<\/p>\n
The clearest result so far was the heat spike. As HD 80606 b swept close to its star, Webb measured its atmosphere warming by about 611\u00b0 C (1,100\u00b0 F) over a short part of the orbit.<\/p>\n
\u201cWebb has shown that the planet\u2019s increase in temperature was even more extreme than we anticipated based on Spitzer data,\u201d Kataria explained.<\/p>\n
The spectra may also show how the planet\u2019s chemistry responds to that sudden roasting. The team is looking for signatures of gases such as methane and carbon dioxide, which can change as heat rises and falls. Those chemical results are still under analysis, but the dataset gives researchers a rare chance to track how a giant planet\u2019s atmosphere changes across a single close pass of its star.<\/p>\n
What Comes Next?<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Artist\u2019s reconstruction of the roasted planet. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)<\/p>\n