We must admit that during a whole year spent on Earth, we have plenty of time to achieve some of our goals or to fail them completely. One full year, or 365 days, represent the time needed for our planet to perform a full rotation around the Sun. But for many other planets out there in the Cosmos, one year can be significantly shorter or longer, depending on how much time those space objects need to orbit around their host stars.
CNN tells us about an exoplanet where a year lasts for just about eight hours. GJ 367 b is the cosmic object’s name, and its host star is located roughly 31 light-years away from us.
The USP is in a close relationship with its host star
One of the obvious explanations for why the ultra-short period planet (USP) GJ 367 b completes a full year in such a brief amount of time is that it’s located very close to its host star. But the exoplanet is not done at all when it comes to amazing us.
GJ 367 b is a rocky object and also one of the lightest exoplanets ever discovered. The exoplanet’s core is made of iron and nickel. The star that GJ 367 b revolves around is an M dwarf.
The exoplanet is so hot that its temperatures are high enough to melt various metals. The object reaches temperatures of 1,500 degrees Celsius. Adding the high amount of cosmic radiation present on the exoplanet, you can easily guess that spending a vacation there would be an awful idea. Most likely, there’s no possible way for any known life forms to be dwelling on GJ 367 b.
Astronomers are willing to learn more about the formation of such small and quick exoplanets, as well as how they end up in such a tight orbit around their host stars.
Kristine W. F. Lam, the lead author of the study, declared as quoted by CNN:
We already know a few of these, but their origins are currently unknown,
By measuring the precise fundamental properties of the USP planet, we can get a glimpse of the system’s formation and evolution history.
The discovery of the GJ 367 b exoplanet is detailed in the journal Science.
