Mar 20, 2016 12:10 AM
I like this, because the idea of the most eccentric planet known made me think that it would be a great MR-habitat (a little toasty at times though), and because the principal investigator of the team that discovered it teaches at my old school (SFSU).
It's called HD 20782b, a Jupiter-mass extrasolar planet with a very elongated elliptical comet-like orbit that ranges from out much further than the distance of Mars' orbit to much closer to its star than Mercury's orbit. (Summer and winter really mean something on this planet.) Its system is 117 light-years away.
It appears that this planet may once have had a more circular orbit that got perturbed by gravitational interaction with another planet that may have been ejected from the system, or with a passing star.
Interestingly, this planet may have an atmosphere. Hot Jupiters have been detected as close to their stars as this planet gets, but they have probably all been stripped of any atmosphere they once had and have been reduced to cinders. But this planet whips by its star so rapidly at its closest approach that it doesn't spend much of its orbital period down that close.
http://news.sfsu.edu/news-story/most-ecc...cted-light
http://arxiv.org/abs/1511.08679
![[Image: hd20782_sfsu_small.jpg?downsize=280:210&...format=jpg]](http://cdn.ndtv.com/tech/images/gadgets/thumb/hd20782_sfsu_small.jpg?downsize=280:210&output-quality=80&output-format=jpg)
![[Image: Kane_orbit_story.jpg]](http://news.sfsu.edu/sites/sites7.sfsu.edu.news/files/story-images/2016/Spring/Kane_orbit_story.jpg)
It's called HD 20782b, a Jupiter-mass extrasolar planet with a very elongated elliptical comet-like orbit that ranges from out much further than the distance of Mars' orbit to much closer to its star than Mercury's orbit. (Summer and winter really mean something on this planet.) Its system is 117 light-years away.
It appears that this planet may once have had a more circular orbit that got perturbed by gravitational interaction with another planet that may have been ejected from the system, or with a passing star.
Interestingly, this planet may have an atmosphere. Hot Jupiters have been detected as close to their stars as this planet gets, but they have probably all been stripped of any atmosphere they once had and have been reduced to cinders. But this planet whips by its star so rapidly at its closest approach that it doesn't spend much of its orbital period down that close.
http://news.sfsu.edu/news-story/most-ecc...cted-light
http://arxiv.org/abs/1511.08679