This is an artist's concept of the exoplanet WASP-12b. It is the hottest known planet in the Milky Way galaxy, and potentially the shortest lived. The planet is only 2 million miles from its sunlike parent star – a fraction of Earth's distance from the Sun. Gravitational tidal forces from the star stretch the planet into an egg shape. The planet is so hot that it has puffed up to the point where its outer atmosphere spills onto the star. An accretion bridge streams toward the star and material is smeared into a swirling disk. The planet may be completely devoured by the star in 10 million years. The planet is too far away for the Hubble Space Telescope to photograph, but this interpretation is based in part on analysis of Hubble spectroscopic and photometric data.
Credits
Artwork: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI);Science: NASA, ESA, and C. Haswell (The Open University, UK)
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | WASP-12b |
| Object Description | Planet around a nearby yellow dwarf star |
| R.A. Position | 06h 30m 32s.78 |
| Dec. Position | +29° 40' 20".3 |
| Constellation | Auriga |
| Distance | 600 light-years (184 parsecs) |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The data are from HST proposal : C. Haswell (The Open University), P. Wheatley (University of Warwick), L. Hebb and A. Cameron (University of St. Andrews), C. Froning (University of Colorado, Boulder), A. Carter (The Open University), B. Loeillet (Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille), C. Helling (University of St. Andrews), and L. Fossati (The Open University). |
| Instrument | HST>COS |
| Exposure Dates | Sept. 24-25, 2009, Exposure Time: Approx. 14,000 seconds total (approx. 4 hours) |
| Filters | NCM1, Grating: G285M |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
