length of alien planet's 'day' clocked for 1st time, an 8-hour world _ space

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Length of Alien Planet's 'Day' Clocked for 1st Time, an

8-Hour World

By Mike Wall, Senior Writer | April 30, 2014 01:01pm ET

Astronomers have measured the rotation rate of an alien planet for the first time

ever, finding that a huge Jupiter-like world called Beta Pictoris b has a day lasting

just eight hours.

The equator of Beta Pictoris b, a gas giant about 10 times more massive than

Jupiter, is moving at about 62,000 mph (100,000 km/h), researchers said — far

faster than that of any planet in our solar system. In fact, Beta Pictoris b is the

fastest-spinning planet yet seen.

In comparison, Jupiter's equator is traveling at about 29,000 mph (47,000 km/h),

while Earth's is moving at just 1,060 mph (1,700 km/h). Days on these two

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Credit: ESO L. Calçada/N. Risinger

View full size image

This artist’s view shows the

planet orbiting the young star

Beta Pictoris. This exoplanet is the first to have its

rotation rate measured. Its eight-hour day

corresponds to an equatorial rotation speed of

100,000 kilometers/hour — much faster than any

planet in the Solar System.

familiar planets last about 10 hours and 24 hours, respectively. [The Strangest Alien

Planets (Gallery)]

"It is not known why some planets spin fast and others more slowly, but this first measurement of an exoplanet’s rotation shows

that the trend seen in the solar system, where the more massive planets spin faster, also holds true for exoplanets," study

co-author Remco de Kok, of Leiden Observatory and the Netherlands Institute for Space Research, said in a statement. "This

must be some universal consequence of the way planets form."

The researchers used the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile to study Beta Pictoris b, which

lies 63 light-years from Earth in the constellation Pictor (The Painter's Easel). You can zoom in on Beta Pictoris b's parent star

in this video.

The VLT spotted the molecular fingerprint of carbon monoxide in the giant planet's atmosphere. Further, this carbon monoxide

signal was shifted and broadened considerably as a result of Beta Pictoris b's rotation, much as the sound waves emitted by a

police car's siren shift as the vehicle approaches and passes a stationary observer.

The nature of this signal shift is consistent with a superfast spin that results in an 8-hour day for the huge exoplanet.


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Credit: By Karl Tate,

Infographics Artist

View full size image

On Beta Pictoris b, a

planet still forming nearly

64 light-years away, a day

lasts only 8.1 hours. See

how Beta Pictoris b spins

so fast in this Space.com

infographic.

(Interestingly, that day will likely get shorter in the future. Beta Pictoris b is an extremely young world — just 20 million years

old, compared to 4.5 billion years for the Earth — that should shrink and cool as it ages, ramping up its spin rate

considerably, researchers said.)

The new study could help astronomers get a better handle on how planets take shape and evolve.


3 of 9 4/30/2014 11:30 PM

Credit: ESO/I. Snellen (Leiden University)View full size image

This graphic shows the rotation speeds of several of the planets in the Solar System along with

the recently measured spin rate of the planet Beta Pictoris b.

Alien Planet Quiz: Are You an Exoplanet Expert?

Astronomers have confirmed more than 800 planets beyond our own solar system, and the discoveries keep rolling in. How

much do you know about these exotic worlds?

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Astronomers have confirmed more than 800 planets beyond our own solar system, and the discoveries keep rolling in. How

much do you know about these exotic worlds?

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"What this tells us about planet formation is not clear to me, but the accretion of angular momentum is definitely an important

factor during formation," study lead author Ignas Snellen of Leiden Observatory told Space.com via email. "Planet formation

models will have to be able to reproduce this behavior."

Snellen and his team needed just one hour of VLT observing time to pin down Beta Pictoris b's rotation rate, suggesting that the

planet won't be in a class by itself for long.

"I think that maybe the most exciting aspect of this paper is the relative ease with which we performed these observations,"

Snellen said. "It means that in the coming years we will be able to measure the spin velocity of a whole sample of young gas

giant planets."

The technique should also allow astronomers to make detailed global maps of exoplanets using giant future instruments such as

the European Extremely Large Telescope, which is slated to come online in the early 2020s, researchers said.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally

published on Space.com.


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AUTHOR BIO

Mike Wall

Michael was a science writer for the Idaho National Laboratory and has been an intern at Wired.com, The Salinas Californian

newspaper, and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. He has also worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He

has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of

Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest

project is, you can follow Mike on Google+.

Mike Wall on


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J.r. Taylor · Top Commenter · U.S. Navy

I wonder how long the work day is on that planet. haha

Reply · Like · 2 minutes ago

Michael Schaeffers · Top Commenter · Software Developer at Flintfox

I think it's pretty awesome that, not only can we tell a planet has carbon monoxide in theatmosphere, but also tell how fast it is spinning, from 63 light-years away. Amazing stuff.

Reply · Like · 2 hours ago


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length of alien planet's 'day' clocked for 1st time, an 8-hour world _ space

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