Attention is focusing on whether the James Webb Space Telescope will make precise observations of ‘KELT-9b’, an exoplanet that repeats summer and winter every 9 hours.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) plan to soon announce a list of objects to be explored in the future by the James Webb Space Telescope, which will mark the first anniversary of space exploration in July.
Imaginary rendering of the exoplanet KELT-9b orbiting almost perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the main star KELT-9 (center)
This planet is a hot Jupiter that has been actively studied by scholars. A hot Jupiter refers to a gas giant with a fairly fast orbital period, as the distance from the main planet orbiting the exoplanets is as short as 1/10 of the Sun-Earth distance.
Compared to Jupiter, ‘KELT-9b’ has a diameter about 1.8 times and a mass about 2.9 times. Its orbit is small enough to circle the main star ‘KELT-9’ in about 36 hours. The energy received by the primary star is estimated to be approximately 40,000 times more than the energy Earth receives from the sun. Because of this, the temperature of ‘KELT-9b’ is about 4300 ° C, which is higher than that of most stars.
This unusual exoplanet orbiting its star at extremely high speeds exhibits periodic temperature fluctuations due to an orbital inclination of up to 87°.
Exoplanet KELT-9b (left), a hot Jupiter, has summer and winter cycles every 9 hours. In 36 hours, it goes around the main castle once, welcoming summer-winter-summer-winter.
A NASA official explained, “‘KELT-9b’ orbits the main star almost vertically with a period of about 36 hours, so the seasons change about every 9 hours, twice each while orbiting once around the pole and near the equator with different temperatures.” .
The official said, “When a planet is in the sky near the hot pole of the host, it is summer, and when it orbits the cold equator, it is in winter.” said.
The James Webb Space Telescope, which is expected to observe ‘KELT-9b’, started full-scale activity in July of last year. The first high-definition photo released on the 12th of that month attracted enough attention that US President Joe Biden (80) introduced it at a regular event at the White House. Since then, James Webb has continued to explore cosmic jewels such as the Carina Nebula and the Eight Fiend Nebula.