A NEW ‘HOT JUPITER’ EXOPLANET DISCOVERED

Researchers at Keele University have discovered a new 'Hot Jupiter' exoplanet. This is for the first time a planet has been discovered jointly by two teams viz, the WASP (Wide Angle Search for Planets) and the KELT (Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope) exoplanet surveys.

The exoplanet, WASP-167b/KELT-13b, is a giant planet which is many times bigger than Jupiter. Every two days it orbits its parent star. WASP-176/KELT-13, its host star, is one of the most rapidly rotating and hottest stars known to host such a planet.

The host star was observed by the KELT and the WASP exoplanet surveys between 2006 and 2013 using the KELT-South telescope and the WASP-South telescope. A follow-up observation by the European South Observatory (ESO) confirmed the presence of the exoplanet in 2016.

“Planet-search teams are only just beginning to find hot-Jupiter planets with hot, fast-rotating host stars. This is only the second of what I hope will be many WASP planets that fall into this category. Already we are seeing characteristic properties that contrast those we've seen before, and I'm looking forward to filling in this emerging big picture with more new discoveries” said Lorna Temple, the team lead. 

By: Angel

Content: www.sciencedaily.com