Astrophysics discovered the "impossible" planet
Scientists have discovered a planet that should not exist according to the laws of physics known to us.
The gas giant Wasp-18b orbits the star Wasp-18 about 330 light years from Earth. It is so close to the star (2.2 million km) that the calendar year there is 0.94 Earth days, and on the sunny side the temperature reaches 2400 ° K.
To date, astrophysicists have discovered about 370 exoplanets in space, mostly of the same type of “hot jupiter”. Wasp-18b is the second closest to the star and the only one that scientists can’t really explain. According to accepted theories, with such an approach to a star, the planet will inevitably be absorbed by the luminary for a maximum of a million years. At the same time, the age of Wasp-18b is about a billion, and all the surrounding planets are about the same age.
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Astrophysicists have already offered two possible explanations, but none of them looks convincing enough. Since Kepler’s mechanics are foolish to refute, then, as one of the options, the star Wasp-18 itself has about 1000 times less energy than expected. So, something is wrong in our knowledge about the evolution of terrestrial-type stars. The second option is that the planet itself is in its current orbit quite recently, that is, it was knocked down from its previous orbit by someone (some other planet), and now falls on a star. But the probability of this event is actually close to zero, this is already some kind of fantasy, not science. Scientists have no other options yet, so they continue to observe.
Anyway, according to the existing theory, the planet should now very quickly slow down and fall. So fast that in five years the period of its circulation will decrease by 14 seconds.
The gas giant Wasp-18b orbits the star Wasp-18 about 330 light years from Earth. It is so close to the star (2.2 million km) that the calendar year there is 0.94 Earth days, and on the sunny side the temperature reaches 2400 ° K.
To date, astrophysicists have discovered about 370 exoplanets in space, mostly of the same type of “hot jupiter”. Wasp-18b is the second closest to the star and the only one that scientists can’t really explain. According to accepted theories, with such an approach to a star, the planet will inevitably be absorbed by the luminary for a maximum of a million years. At the same time, the age of Wasp-18b is about a billion, and all the surrounding planets are about the same age.
')
Astrophysicists have already offered two possible explanations, but none of them looks convincing enough. Since Kepler’s mechanics are foolish to refute, then, as one of the options, the star Wasp-18 itself has about 1000 times less energy than expected. So, something is wrong in our knowledge about the evolution of terrestrial-type stars. The second option is that the planet itself is in its current orbit quite recently, that is, it was knocked down from its previous orbit by someone (some other planet), and now falls on a star. But the probability of this event is actually close to zero, this is already some kind of fantasy, not science. Scientists have no other options yet, so they continue to observe.
Anyway, according to the existing theory, the planet should now very quickly slow down and fall. So fast that in five years the period of its circulation will decrease by 14 seconds.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/68243/
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