[quote]WASHINGTON (Sept. 27) - Astronomers have found what appears to be a gigantic suicidal planet.
The odd, fiery planet is so close to its star and so large that it is triggering tremendous plasma tides on the star. Those powerful tides are in turn warping the planet's zippy less-than-a-day orbit around its star.
An artist's impression depicts an exoplanet similar to the newly discovered WASP-18b, which scientists say is on a collision course with its star.
The result: an ever-closer tango of death, with the planet eventually spiraling into the star.
It's a slow death. The planet WASP-18b has maybe a million years to live, said planet discoverer Coel Hellier, a professor of astrophysics at the Keele University in England. Hellier's report on the suicidal planet is in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.
"It's causing its own destruction by creating these tides," Hellier said.
The star is called WASP-18 and the planet is WASP-18b because of the Wide Angle Search for Planets team that found them.
The planet circles a star that is in the constellation Phoenix and is about 325 light-years away from Earth, which means it is in our galactic neighborhood. A light-year is about 5.8 trillion miles.
The planet is 1.9 million miles from its star, 1/50th of the distance between Earth and the sun, our star. And because of that the temperature is about 3,800 degrees.
A new photo released in July from the Hubble Space Telescope is the clearest yet of what astronomers are calling a scar on the surface of Jupiter. An object, possibly a comet, struck the planet recently, creating the strange dark patch. It happened on the 15th anniversary of another comet strike.
Its size — 10 times bigger than Jupiter — and its proximity to its star make it likely to die, Hellier said.
Think of how the distant moon pulls Earth's oceans to form twice-daily tides. The effect the odd planet has on its star is thousands of times stronger, Hellier said. The star's tidal bulge of plasma may extend hundreds of miles, he said.
Like most planets outside our solar system, this planet was not seen directly by a telescope. Astronomers found it by seeing dips in light from the star every time the planet came between the star and Earth.
So far astronomers have found more than 370 planets outside the solar system. This one is "yet another weird one in the exoplanet menagerie," said planet specialist Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution of Washington.
It's so unusual to find a suicidal planet that University of Maryland astronomer Douglas Hamilton questioned whether there was another explanation. While it is likely that this is a suicidal planet, Hamilton said it is also possible that some basic physics calculations that all astronomers rely on could be dead wrong.
The answer will become apparent in less than a decade if the planet seems to be further in a death spiral, he said.[/quote]
[url]http://news.aol.com/article/suicidal-planet-may-crash-into-its-star/640882[/url]
Emo planet
Could've sworn I heard about this two years ago...
man it would be so awesome if we got to see this, but i have a slight feeling i wont be alive in a million years.
[QUOTE=Wommel;16978685]man it would be so awesome if we got to see this, but i have a slight feeling i wont be alive in a million years.[/QUOTE]
Maybe not.
[quote="OP Article"]also possible that some basic physics calculations that all astronomers rely on could be [b]dead[/b] wrong.[/quote]
[quote][b]dead[/b] wrong[/quote]
[quote][b]dead[/b][/quote]
Hah. It's like a pun or something.
i thought it was something about the death star
i am dissapoint :saddowns:
i'd hate to live there
[QUOTE=FoodStuffs;16979437]i'd hate to live there[/QUOTE]
I don't think many live there, and if things live there they have another million to live.
[QUOTE=Jessey;16979442]I don't think many live there, and if things live there they have another million to live.[/QUOTE]
In that comfortable 3800 degree environment.
Jump jump jump!
Theres a planet on Mass Effect that has a degrading orbit too.
You get to land on the planet its spiralling into. You look up to see the huge crescent of the planet looking too close for comfort, very cool.
This is very interesting. They are making it seem though the planet has a mind of its own. Which would be cool if it did but it doesn't. So they say the planet is doing it to itself, when it can't because it just naturally happens.
[QUOTE=Commando123;16980093]This is very interesting. They are making it seem though the planet has a mind of its own. Which would be cool if it did but it doesn't. So they say the planet is doing it to itself, when it can't because it just naturally happens.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, its not a suicide because it isn't consciously deciding to end its existence.
[QUOTE=Wommel;16978685]man it would be so awesome if we got to see this, but i have a slight feeling i wont be alive in a million years.[/QUOTE]
Probably because the oldest person on record was 122 years old.
Wow, this planet's year is less than one Earth day.
[QUOTE=IceCKryss;16981034]Wow, this planet's year is less than one Earth day.[/QUOTE]
Then that gives them about 2 weeks to live.
Wait, if it's orbit is so fast, won't that make it's day (probably) longer than it's year? Then it'd be like Mercury and Venus, with a double sunrise.
It already happened.
Hundreds of years ago.
Freaky.
[QUOTE=lazyguy;16982722]It already happened.
Hundreds of years ago.
Freaky.[/QUOTE]
Shit, that's right! Because of the speed of light, we're only now viewing an event that happened a long time ago! If only we had Han Solo...
Damn do I wish I had drawing/animating talent. I see news stories like this and just have to replicate what's really going on.
[quote]The planet WASP-18b has maybe a million years to live,[/quote]
so why do we care?
[QUOTE=lazyguy;16982722]It already happened.
Hundreds of years ago.
Freaky.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=IceCKryss;17030184]Shit, that's right! Because of the speed of light, we're only now viewing an event that happened a long time ago! If only we had Han Solo...[/QUOTE]
No not really.
[quote]
It's a slow death. The planet WASP-18b has maybe a million years to live, said planet discoverer Coel Hellier.
The planet circles a star that is in the constellation Phoenix and is about 325 light-years away from Earth, which means it is in our galactic neighborhood.[/quote]
the planet was found out to be tinted black and red
It's gigantic and suicidal?
What's its Facepunch username?
[QUOTE=Zeke129;17054039]It's gigantic and suicidal?
What's its Facepunch username?[/QUOTE]
gurant
It's krpyton!
:emo:
That's pretty fucking awesome, imagine being on the planet as it finally touched the sun, assuming you hadn't been vaporized yet, you'd be able to look in all directions and see an almost unless ceiling of fire.
[QUOTE=Wommel;16978685]man it would be so awesome if we got to see this, but i have a slight feeling i wont be alive in a million years.[/QUOTE]
Ah I'll just stay in spectator mode and not spawn untill I see this happen.
Goodnight sweet prince.
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