Saturday, May 3, 2014

Spin! Exoplanet’s Day Finishes Blazing Fast Compared To Earth

Spin! Exoplanet’s Day Finishes Blazing Fast Compared To Earth:

Artist's impression of Beta Pictoris b. Credit: ESO L. Calçada/N. Risinger (skysurvey.org)

Artist’s impression of Beta Pictoris b. Credit: ESO L. Calçada/N. Risinger (skysurvey.org)
Between the time you got to work this morning and the time you leave today — assuming an eight-hour work cycle — an entire day will have passed on Beta Pictoris b, according to new measurements of the exoplanet.

This daily cycle, mapped for the first time on a planet outside of the solar system, may reveal a link between how big a planet is and how fast it rotates, astronomers stated. That said, caution is needed because there are only a handful of planets where the rotation is known: the eight planets of our Solar System and Beta Pictoris b.

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Read the rest of Spin! Exoplanet’s Day Finishes Blazing Fast Compared To Earth (254 words)




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