NASA (Exoplanet Catalog artwork)HAT-P-7b
Weather on a gas giant: shifting winds and clouds of ruby and sapphire
Overview
HAT-P-7b is an extrasolar planet discovered in 2008. It orbits very close to its host star and is larger than Jupiter. Due to the extreme heat that it receives from its star, the dayside temperature is predicted to be 2,630–2,880 K, while nightside temperatures are 2,211–2,238 K. HAT-P-7b is also one of the darkest planets ever observed, with an albedo of less than 0.03—meaning it absorbs more than 97% of the visible light that strikes it.
Source: Wikipedia
NASA: HAT-P-7 b is a gas giant exoplanet that orbits a F-type star. Its mass is 1.84 Jupiters, it takes 2.2 days to complete one orbit of its star, and is 0.03809 AU from its star. Its discovery was announced in 2008.
Why it matters
- In 2016 astronomers detected changing cloud patterns — the first weather seen on a gas giant exoplanet.
- The clouds are probably corundum, the mineral that forms rubies and sapphires.
- Its dayside reaches around 2,500 K on a 2.2-day orbit.
NASA puts it this way: “HAT-P-7 b is a gas giant exoplanet that orbits an F-type star. Its mass is 1.84 Jupiters, it takes 2.2 days to complete one orbit of its star, and is 0.03676 AU from its star. Its discovery was announced in 2008.”
Discovery & system
- Discovered
- 2008 · Transit · HATNet
- Discovery paper
- Pal et al. 2008
- Discoverers
- Kepler Space Telescope
- Host star
- HAT-P-7 · F6 V · 6,389 K · 1.56 M☉
- System
- 1 known planet, 3 stars
The system
| World | Period | Distance | Radius | Mass | Temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HAT-P-7 b | 2.2 d | 0.038 AU | 1.51 R♃ | 1.84 M♃ | 2,733 K |
By the numbers
- Radius
- 1.51 R♃16.9 R⊕
- Mass
- 1.84 M♃585 M⊕
- Orbital period
- 2.2 d0.01 yr
- Distance from star
- 0.038 AU5.7 million km
- Eccentricity
- 0nearly circular
- Equilibrium temp.
- 2,733 K2,460 °C
- Starlight received
- 4,353 × Earth
- Distance from Earth
- 1,112 ly341.1 pc
- Density
- 0.71 g/cm³0.13 × Earth
Sources
Image: NASA (Exoplanet Catalog artwork) · NASA media: generally free of copyright · image page
Text: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Taglines and highlights are editorial.