Science/Tech

Alien Planet: Astronomers Discover Hottest Giant Planet KELT-9B

By Peter D'Souza | Update Date: Jun 07, 2017 08:29 AM EDT

Astronomers hunt exoplanet in search of extraterrestrial life or better yet, alien life, which exists outside of the solar system. Thousands of exoplanet have been discovered with NASA’s Kepler telescope in the past two decades.

Discovery Of Alien Planet KELT-9b

Recently, astronomers have discovered a strange scorching-hot planet with a dayside temperature of more than 4,300 degree Celsius. This Jupiter-like planet is known as KELT-9b and it is 300 million years old, which is young in star time, Space reported.

Lead Professor Scott Gaudi from Ohio State University in Columbus said, "This is the hottest gas giant planet that has ever been discovered". In addition, KELT-9b is 2.8 times more massive than Jupiter and it is located 650 light years from Earth.

Nature Of KELT-9b

According to researchers, KELT-9b is a truly spiritual place, where water, carbon dioxide, and methane can't form due to high temperature. The researchers think that the alien planet is made of by hydrogen and helium, instead of individual atoms of water and carbon, USA Today reported.

Co-leader Keivan Stassun modified the statement and said, "KELT-9 radiates so much ultraviolet radiation that it may completely evaporate the planet and the planet may be boiled down to barren rock like Mercury”. Scientist Gaudi also mentioned that the planet is going to be falling soon because its evaporation rate is 10 billion grams per second.

Detection Of KELT-9b

Now, the researchers used Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope (KELT) to discovered KELT-9b at Winer Observatory in southeastern Arizona. They also used different instruments to observe KELT-9b, such as NASA’s Hubble Telescope and Spitzer space telescopes. In the future, scientists will also use the agency’s $8.9 billion James Webb Space Telescope, which is expected to launch in late 2018.

Scientists said it’s important to know not only how planets form and evolve, but also when and under what conditions they are destroyed. They are still finding exoplanet like KELT-9b and looking for such extraterrestrial life. They believe one day they will surely find an exoplanet that has the conditions to host extraterrestrial life.

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